To Find Your Way Home
by daccu65
Summary: When a mission gone wrong on Earth sends a young man to Remnant, he will try to get back to Earth, to the friends and the lovely young woman he left behind. But what if helping to protect Remnant means that he can never go home? Ron Stoppable winds up meeting Team RNJR and changing the course of events on Remnant.
1. Chapter 1

_Dear potential reader._

 _Please know that I do not own the characters appearing in this tale. Both the Kim Possible and RWBY characters belong to others, I'm simply borrowing them for a little bit. This tale is not intended to generate profit, it is written merely for my own enjoyment and hopefully yours. That said, please enjoy..._

* * *

Sometimes, it just didn't pay to be a sidekick.

Okay, it never _paid_ to be a sidekick; about the only thing you ever got out of it was the dubious gift of a free but uncomfortable ride to a far-away place, where you could sidekick some more. After more than four years of sidekick work, Ron Stoppable thought he had seen it all; he had seen alien invasions, he had been sucked into television realities, he had joked with over-sized cockroaches, he had even fought monkey ninjas in space. What he hadn't been prepared for was having people looking to him to be the hero and to find the answers.

The sitch had started off well enough; to be honest, it was more than great from his point of view. He would be working with Kim again. After graduation, he and his girlfriend had enjoyed an absolutely magical summer. They had decided to give Drakken credit for defeating the Lowardians; providing the teens with some welcome anonymity and diverting uncomfortable questions. Instead of facing questioning and interviews, the two had made the most of their remaining time with each other, as Kim was going to be attending Oxford University in the fall. There had been a couple of missions, but nothing all that intense, and Ron had retained his ability to call upon the Mystical Monkey Power.

At first, he had been hesitant to use his newfound power, remembering how Kim tended to get a little miffed when he proved better at her, but he discovered that his girlfriend had changed over the years; rather than being jealous or irked, she proved to be intrigued and worked to incorporate his new abilities into their dynamic. The result was that they advanced from being formidable to downright unbeatable. The bad guys quickly learned and the summer was quiet, for the most part.

That peace didn't last long into autumn. Ron attended Colorado State University on a football scholarship, while Kim left for England. The techno-villains they fought were not foolish; they had put two and two together...or more to the point, had subtracted one from two and realized that Team Possible simply wasn't a team anymore. Also, since Kim was now in England and nobody outside of Drakken and Shego knew the full tale of how the Lowardians were repulsed, most such villains decided that the Western Hemisphere was ripe for the taking. It didn't take Ron long to learn that his girlfriend had done him a big favor by incorporating his new abilities into their partnership; she had actually helped prepare him to perform solo hero work.

Of course, suddenly being a solo hero when you were used to being the backup wasn't an easy task. Stopping the bad guys required a lot more than physical capability. Sure, Ron was almost unbeatable in a fight and had strength nobody could match, but he was weak when it came to doing the before-the-mission research and planning. Fortunately, Wade was still willing providing support and Rufus was still with him, so he had a lot of help in that regard. After a near-disaster going up against Motor Ed, he learned to listen to Wade and think things through before breaking into a lair. A follow up mission against the mullet man, followed by clashes against The Mathter, Frugal Lucre and DNAmy had gotten the message out; Ron Stoppable was holding the torch and holding it well. Techno-villain crime quickly dropped off, allowing the blonde teen to concentrate on the horror that was freshman football at a major university.

He missed Kim terribly and their daily video chats made it clear that she missed him just as much, so when Wade learned that Dementor had the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer again, in Germany, it seemed like a vacation. He jumped on his ride while Wade did research. Six hours later, he hopped off of his ride to (literally) pick up Kim, in London, for the relatively short hop to Germany. They were looking forward to a quick take-down of the ranting scientist and some ample couple time before they returned to their respective educational institutions. Of course, sometimes things just don't work out the way you've planned.

For all of his genius, despite the fact that he understood _what_ the PDVI did, Wade didn't understand _how_ it pierced the barrier between realities. Working within this limitation, Wade had suggested a plan by which they would be able to recover the device while it wasn't active. This made sense to the teens, so they followed their usual method of infiltration, in through the air ducts. Rather than immediately confronting Dementor, the found a good vantage point and watched as the ranting madman opened a portal and pushed several heavy crates through to the other side. After this, several large, frightening looking creatures stalked thought the portal, where henchmen with shock staffs herded them into holding cells. Kim managed to shoot video of the creatures; black, white and red beasts that looked something like bears with bony spikes and plates, before Dementor locked them away.

"The Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer must cool," the mad scientist declared. "And the energy lattice must recharge before the next exchange! Then, we will bring in more of these creatures...these grimm...from their home dimension! Henchmen, guard the area; if anyone disturbs this apparatus before I return, you'll be fed to the grimm! After that, we'll receive more of the energy source...these dust crystals. After that..." he broke into maniacal laughter. "Well, once my new partner learns the value of what I just sent her, she'll send me a real dragon!"

With that, the undersized, twisted genius stalked out of the laboratory, leaving nervous looking henchmen to guard their employer's latest invention.

"Now's our chance," Kim reported to Wade. "Dementor is gone, his invention is recharging and the PDVI is cooling down. Any idea how long it will be before Dementor can fire it up again?"

"No real idea," Wade told them. "But it must be longer than a few minutes, otherwise he wouldn't leave. I'm concerned about those creatures he brought through. They're highly modified from the base stock. I hate to say this, but when the authorities arrive, we might want to get Amy in on this to help us understand what's happened to them."

"That can wait for later," Kim retorted. "We have to keep him from bringing any more of these from...well...wherever it is that he's bringing them from!"

"I'm also interested in what he's trading for them," Wade murmured, before pulling his thoughts back to the current scene. "Move in, but there's something I just can't put my finger on that has me nervous."

"Okay, usual method?" Ron asked his girlfriend...and leader.

"Nobody has come up with a counter to it yet," she replied, with the smile he hadn't seen in person for far too long. "It's time to teach Dementor's bunch just what we're capable of, now."

Ron smiled and called on his connection to the Mystical Monkey Power while Kim returned the smile and cracked her knuckles. The teens burst out of the duct-work, Ron going left while Kim went right. The team didn't count on intricate tactics to overwhelm their foes; they counted on hitting hard and fast so that the henchmen couldn't organize any sort of coherent resistance. Half the henchmen were down and Ron had dropped Rufus off onto a control board before one of the hired muscle had the sense to activate some sort of an alarm.

"Pick up the pace!" Kim struggled to yell over the klaxon. "We don't want to find out what sort of back up security Dementor has prepared!"

"Right!" Ron agreed, yanking a shock staff out of one of the last remaining henchman's hands and using the weapon to leave the man writhing on the ground. A quick look over his shoulder told him that KP had just sent another henchman sprawling and was now closing on the last one. With the defense eliminated...or at least accounted for...it was time to finish the mission and get out. Ron vaulted into the air and seized the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer, from where it was suspended in a lattice of cables and tubes. That's when things went wrong.

The moment his hand touched the device, Ron felt a surge of electricity run through his body from the the shock staff to the inducer. For a few moments, he was in agony worse than being hit by one of the staffs. He heard Kim screaming his name, heard Rufus' terrified chitters before the world turned upside down and he found himself looking up at the ground.

If there was one skill Ron Stoppable had perfected over the years, it was falling down. Despite the fact that he found himself upside down with the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer in one hand and a shock staff in the other, he managed to flip himself enough to do a belly-flop as opposed to a head-first toothpick into the ground. With the wind knocked out of him, he rolled over and stared into the sky.

He had a moment to grasp the fact that he was lying on a forest floor, contemplating the night sky, when moments ago he had been in Dementor's laboratory. For an unknown length of time, he wondered why the moon was broken.

Then the beast was on top of him.

* * *

It didn't make things easy when one quarter of your team was in deep mourning and wouldn't open up to the others for help, one quarter was fighting some sort of personal demon that he wouldn't even talk about, and yet another quarter was distracted, terrified for her uncle. Ruby Rose didn't know if not being able to sleep was a curse or a blessing at the moment. Maybe it was a blessing, because it meant that she didn't have the nightmares about seeing Pyrrha killed. Maybe it was a curse, because now her imagination was free to run wild about her uncle Qrow. The only thing available to distract her from dark thoughts was to watch Jaune going through his basic movements and attacks while he listened to Pyrrha's recorded instructions.

For several nights now, even before the fight with Tyrian in the remains of Oniyuri, she had watched her friend, unobserved, as he went through his nocturnal practice. It was at such times that Ruby keenly felt the two years of age that separated her from her companions. While everyone missed Pyrrha, Jaune was hurt more than even Ruby, who had seen her killed and disintegrated. The young teen knew that there must have been something very special between Pyrrha and Jaune, and she suspected that if she were two years older, she might be able to guess more about what it had been.

She was hesitant to talk to her other two teammates about blonde boy. Ever since they found Shion Village destroyed, Ren seemed to be fighting his own personal issues and Nora didn't seem to be the right person to talk to about this sort of thing. The bubbly hammer-wielder was extremely friendly and enthusiastic, but Ruby suspected that if she were to let the older teen know how bad Jaune was hurting, Nora would handle it with finesse of...well...someone who uses a war-hammer. She was only fifteen, but Ruby was pretty sure that Jaune needed some careful handling. She was too young, Ren was probably too reserved and Nora was just too cheerful for this. While her uncle Qrow was reasonably near at hand, and his years of being an instructor had probably given him the experience to deal with it, he was weak, feverish and not coherent at all times...which was why the four teens, along with an additional visitor, were where they were at the moment.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Jaune finishing his latest exercise. Most nights, he would pause and try to get some sort of control over his emotions before continuing. Tonight, he sobbed and Ruby felt like her heart had fallen into her stomach. Deciding that she had to do something, she tiptoed most of the way back to where Ren, Nora and Lyssnare slept, then turned and walked back to Jaune's impromptu training court, making a point of snapping a few twigs along the way. Sure enough, by the time she reached the small clearing, his scroll was out of sight and he had composed himself.

"Hey," he greeted her, without a great deal of enthusiasm.

"Hey, Jaune," she replied, trying to sound casual. "I woke up and didn't see you."

"I just thought I'd get in some practice during my watch," he told her.

"That's not a good idea," she told him, truthfully. "Anyone or anything could sneak up on the rest of us while you're distracted away from camp."

For a moment, he looked like he was ready to argue with her, but then his shoulders slumped. Ruby swallowed a bit of disappointment, she had hoped he would have the spirit to tell her off.

"You're right," he admitted, setting a course back to the camp. "I won't let it happen again."

Ruby fell into step next to him, walking through the moonlit forest in an awkward silence. Finally, as they approached their sleeping companions, the young teen decided that she had to at least try to address the situation.

"Jaune," she began, stopping and prompting him to halt, as well. "Is there something wrong?"

"Of course there is," he rolled his eyes. "Beacon has fallen, Vale is threatened, raiders and grimm are tearing up the villages outside of the kingdoms, your sister has been maimed, your uncle is sick back at the village and Pyrrha is...is..." His voice trailed off to a sob.

"Juane?" She murmured, placing a hand on his arm. For a moment, he looked ready to shake it off, then dropped his gaze to his feet.

"Why didn't she..." he began. "Why didn't I..."

Again, sobs prevented him from saying more and Ruby wondered if she was the one he should be talking to. Her doubts, and his rambling, stopped when the air suddenly seemed to come alive, prompting their hair to stand on end.

"What's that?" Both Ruby and Jaune demanded of the other.

The two shared stunned looks as small flashes of bright light sizzled through the air behind them.

"Go get the others!" She snapped at the older boy. For a moment, Jaune seemed ready to argue.

"I'll stay out of sight until you get back!" She told him, positioning herself so that a large tree was between herself and the growing...lightning vortex.

Jaune still seemed ready to argue, but quickly changed his mind. Despite the fact that he didn't have as much training as his companions, he was no fool. He knew that despite being younger and smaller than himself, Ruby was a much more capable fighter. Someone had to observe whatever was happening and Ruby had a much better chance of protecting herself while the rest of the team assembled.

"Don't be a hero," the blonde told her, before sprinting off into the night.

"Right," Ruby agreed to his vanished backside. Keeping herself hidden, she opened Crescent Rose and sighted into the center of the growing maelstrom.

Seconds later, the flashes of light vanished and a person appeared, upside down, in the air where the vortex had been centered. Said person managed to spin and land on his belly before rolling over. The young man looked confused, staring at the night sky. Ruby contained her instinct to rush forward and offer help; just because he was confused didn't mean he wasn't the enemy. She remained hidden, observing him.

He simply lay there, staring at the sky with a dumbfounded expression. While he did so, Ruby came to the conclusion that he was an athletic blonde young man, roughly the age of her companions. She couldn't say much about his intelligence, for why would someone lay there in a potentially dangerous forest, staring at the moon? Her observations and musings were cut short by a loud roar. With a deafening sound of shattering branches, a beringal burst out of the forest and jumped on the confused, young man. Ruby had only a moment to gawk at the spectacle before several beowolves burst out of the forest in the larger grimm's wake. She took aim and managed to pick off three of the oncoming, smaller grim before the last two were too close for rifle work. She charged out of her concealed position, Crescent Rose perched on her shoulder. A twirling slash decapitated the first of the two oncoming grimm. She continued her motion, ducking under the second one's claw sweep and chopping off its legs. She finished her spin by driving the point of her weapon through the beast's chest. She fired another round, allowing the recoil to split the creature from chest to crotch, before turning to face the ape-like grimm.

Despite her youth, Ruby Rose had seen more wondrous, horrific and downright odd sights than most, yet the spectacle before her prompted her to stand dumbfounded with her mouth hanging open. The young blonde man was on his feet, surrounded by blue light and grappling with the hulking creature. He had one of the monster's wrists in each of his hands and, to her shock, was actually pulling the large paws away from his neck. Snarling at the hulking beast, he executed a back flip, landing a kick on his assailant's chin. The beringal was sent flying into the air.

"Ruby!" Ren's voice snapped her out of her stupor. The agile young man intercepted the ursa that nearly had her, slashing the creature and diverting its attention.

Jaune squared off against another such grimm while Nora flew overhead with a joyous shriek to land a blow that made the ground tremble on the stunned beringal. Ruby quickly forced her mind to the matter at hand and noted a mixed horde of ursa and creeps emerging from the path the beringal had broken through the woods.

"Ruby! Right side!" Jaune's voice sounded through the clearing. "Ren, left! I have point!"

Ruby rushed down the right side of the oncoming horde, twirling her scythe to create a barrier of slashing metal that the grimm couldn't pass. She spared a quick glance at Jaune, noting that the team leader was holding his ground, decapitating first an ursa and then a creep with two powerful blows.

"Nora!" Juane, shouted. "Take the shot!"

"Incoming!" Nora crowed.

"Get clear!" Jaune yelled. Ruby sprang back as Nora fired a series of grenades into the mass of grimm.

The young teen was far enough away and was moving fast enough to ride out the shock-wave without taking a hit to her aura. She found herself next to the newcomer, with Nora standing on his other side. While she couldn't see Ren, on the far side of the grimm horde, she could see Jaune, crouched behind his shield. Most of the grimm were sprawled on the ground, although a few were still upright.

"Finish them!" Jaune roared.

"You got it!" Nora hollered back, in her typical, cheery tone. The orange-haired girl rushed forward, flipping to deliver a massive blow to a stunned ursa. Ruby targeted the grimm who were still on their feet, using her semblance to strike them down before they could react. Jaune simply stalked forward and eliminated whichever enemy was closest to him, not caring if they were ursa or creep, stunned, moving or on their feet. As another creep fell to her scythe, Ruby finally spotted Ren. The dark-haired young man was acting much like her, concentrating on the grimm that were functional.

To Ruby's surprise, the newcomer joined the fray, bare-handed. He proved to be very quick and strong, catching a lunging creep's head and hurling it into a tree. Before he could do any more, team RNJR finished off the pack. With the danger eliminated, the hunters-in-training and the newcomer stared at each other, tired, cautious but hoping for no further conflict. Finally, Jaune sheathed his blade, collapsed his shield and stepped forward.

"Hello," he told the other blonde. "I'm Jaune Arc."

"Errr, Ron, Ron Stoppable," the newcomer replied. "How is it that you speak English?"

"What's English?" Jaune asked, perplexed.

"The language we're speaking...never mind," Ron shook his head.

"Where are you from?" Jaune asked him.

"I don't think I'm from this world," Ron told him. "For one thing, my planet's moon isn't broken."

"You're from a different world?" Ruby gasped. "I saw you show up! It was like a hole opened in the air and you fell through! How did that happen?"

"We were trying to stop Dementor," Ron explained. "I grabbed the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer and the next thing I know, here I am! Oh, that reminds me!"

While Team RNJR looked on, dumbfounded, Ron pulled a small pack off of his back and walked to the point where he had appeared. He removed a sack from the pack and fitted it over a cylindrical object lying on the ground.

"I don't want to touch it again," Ron explained, putting the sacked object in his pack. "I don't know if it reacted to the Mystical Monkey Power or the electricity in the shock staff, but I don't want it to open another portal."

"What's Mystical Monkey Power?" Jaune asked. "For that matter, who's Detemer, and what's the Pan Dimensional Vintex Orducer?"

"Long stories," Ron told him, picking up an odd staff that looked like it was some form of weapon. "What in the name of the almighty naco is THAT!" Ron was pointing at the dissolving grimm, a look of shock on his face.

"You've never seen grimm dissolve before?" Ren asked.

"I've never seen one before today!" Ron protested. "In fact, I never heard of them before today."

"Could I suggest that this conversation be continued somewhere more safer?" Lysnarre, the village man who accompanied them, suggested. "I can confirm that you eliminated the grimm pack that was bothering my village, but this doesn't seem the place to discuss such things."

"That's a good idea," Jaune agreed. "Ron, why don't you accompany us to our camp? Maybe we can shed some light for each other."

"It is unfortunate that our communication is so compromised," Ren pointed out. "I believe that Doctor Oobleck would like to have some long talks with Ron."

"We all might as well talk," Jaune countered. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't think I'll be able to settle in to sleep for the rest of the night. We might as well try to figure out what is going on."

The rest, Ron included, agreed. Soon, the campfire had been brought back to life, shedding a cheery warmth and light on the camp. A kettle of water was heating, promising hot tea to help ward off the chill of the night. However, every answer learned seemed to spark two or three more questions. Tempers actually started to fray a little until Ruby suggested that for every question Ron answered about himself, Team RNJR would answer a question about themselves and this world. Tempers became more settled, overwhelmed by curiosity.

"So," Ron finally concluded. "You're saying that some organization, led by someone named Salem, is trying to undermine your whole social system?"

"That's the best guess we can come up with," Jaune confirmed. "She seems to be trying to create distrust among the four kingdoms, probably in order to leave each one vulnerable."

"Vale has already received a devastating blow," Ren told the newcomer. "While it appears to be recovering, it is so focused upon its own security and rebuilding that it is not cooperating with the other three. Furthermore, the residents of the other three kingdoms now suspect Atlas of preparing a war of conquest, meaning that they are building their defenses and keeping their forces at home."

"Vale is vulnerable," Jaune added. "It won't receive help from either Mistral of Vacuo, because both kingdoms are guarding against Atlas. It won't accept help from Atlas, because Vale doesn't trust Atlas."

"So this Salem person has split the kingdoms," Ron asked. "What next? Will she finish off Vale or move on one of the others?"

"We don't know," Jaune admitted. "Now, back to you. You said that this professor...Demented?"

"Dementor."

"Professor Dementor was bringing grimm from this world into yours?"

"It would appear so," Ron told his hosts. "Wade...that's the guy who did research for us...found out that Dementor's weapons were getting more powerful, maybe close to something that the military would be nervous about."

"And when you say "us", you are referring to..." Ren prompted.

"Myself and KP...Kim Possible," Ron told him. "She and I grew up together, started going on "save the world missions together a few years ago. Most of the time, I was the sidekick, the comedy relief."

Ruby noted that Jaune grimaced a little at the term.

"But about a year ago, I finally stepped up and we really became partners," Ron continued. "Anyway, we knew that he had the PDVI," he nodded at his backpack. "And we were sent in to find out if it had anything to do with his improved weaponry. We saw him open a portal, push some crates through and then several of those bear-like grimm..."

"Ursas," Nora supplied.

"Ursas," Ron nodded. "Came through. They were a little hostile, but Dementor's henchmen were able to herd them into some holding cages with shock-staffs. He said something about getting more dust crystals in the next shipment and once his new partner found out what he had sent through was capable of, she'd send him a dragon in return."

"Shock-staffs?" Ruby asked. In answer, Ron handed her the staff he had brought from the clearing.

Being a complete weapons geek, the young teen was soon disassembling it.

"I have a question," Ren interrupted. "I am certain that Salem, or whomever your adversary was trading with, was not trading from the clearing in which we fought. Shouldn't you have wound up at her facility?"

"I didn't have time to think about that," Ron admitted. "Maybe when I grabbed the PDVI, I shifted it enough to place me where it did." She shuddered. "I'm just lucky I didn't wind up in space or in the middle of an ocean...you guys have oceans, right?"

His hosts nodded.

"Anyway, I felt a charge going from the staff, through me and to the PDVI," he told them. "The next thing I know, here I am. You know the rest."

"I think we should have him speak to Qrow at the earliest opportunity," Ren suggested to the group. "Qrow is much more involved in defending the kingdoms than he will admit. Perhaps Ron's information will be more useful in his hands than in ours."

"You have fulfilled your commitment," Lysnarre pointed out. "So we're free to return to my village. However, Ron here is an unknown element and while he seems friendly, I'd prefer that his possessions be thoroughly checked before he comes close to my friends and family."

"That's a wise precaution," Jaune nodded, then turned to Ron. "Ron, do you have a problem with us going through your belongings?"

"I don't think it matters if I do," Ron's shoulders slumped. He took off his pack and tossed it towards Jaune. "Feel free."

Ruby and Jaune went through the contents while Nora and Ren continued to speak to the newcomer. In addition to the PDVI, the two hunters-in-training found some field rations, a high-technology sleeping bag that was very compact and a small medical kit. After some prompting, Ron emptied his pockets, producing an implement which he called a multi-tool, that Ruby absolutely fell in love with. There was also a wallet with money and identification from his home planet, a communication device that was similar to a scroll, and a small box.

"That was for Kim," Ron told them. "I was going to give it to her after we finished with Dementor."

Curious, Ruby opened the box, noting how Ron's expression fell. She didn't understand his emotions. Sure, the trinket was pretty and probably expensive, but that didn't explain why a young man would be so upset about not giving it to his companion.

What could be so depressing about _not_ giving your companion a dainty gold ring with a clear gemstone?


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N:_

 _Dear potential reader:_

 _A couple of PMs and reviews made me realize that I didn't clarify some elements before starting to post this tale. First of all is the timeline. For those of you familiar with Kim Possible, this story takes place about six months after "Graduation"._

 _In the RWBY-verse, the events of "A Much Needed Talk" have occurred as per canon, but here is where the tale digresses. Not all elements from following episodes will occur._

 _Another item deals with Ruby's (non) reaction to the engagement ring. I may be completely wrong, but it seems to me that on Remnant, gender roles we are familiar with either don't exist or are not as strong as here on Earth. Because of this, it very well might not be considered the young man's "duty", so to speak, to pop the question in Remnant. In my mind, Ruby found the ring and probably concluded that Kim was more than a friend to Ron, but she wouldn't have realized how much more._

 _A final item is Ron taking his situation in stride and acting out of character. Yes, he is. In my humble opinion, he's still in shock and his "Ron-ness" hasn't come to the fore. In this chapter, he's still a little not himself, but I should be getting him in character in following chapters._

 _As always, I welcome comments and corrections from you, the reader. My thanks to everyone who has taken the time to do so. Now that my justifications are out of the way, please enjoy Chapter 2._

* * *

The problem with loving your family was that seeing them hurt caused you so much pain.

Ruby remembered the shock of seeing Yang, missing an arm, lying next to Blake in the courtyard at Beacon Academy. If Pyrrha and Jaune hadn't been missing, forcing her to leave her sister's side to search for her friends, Ruby would have probably broken down right there. Later, seeing her sister in bed had been almost as bad. Hearing the normally cheerful blonde's bitter words, being exposed to her defeated attitude, had hurt worse. Now, she was facing an all-too familiar experience with Uncle Qrow.

Ruby had always admired her uncle. That wasn't hard; the hunter/teacher had been there, done that and had the scars, memories and stories to prove it. Despite his cynical words, he was an optimist at heart, always looking for solutions...after telling everyone how they were such idiots for letting things get bleak in the first place. He had molded her from a little girl, flailing with her scythe, to a formidable combatant. Ruby loved her uncle the way a teenager can only love a cherished family member who isn't around enough for her taste. Now, she struggled to connect the rugged, capable hunter with the frail man lying in the doctor's bed.

"Hey," his greeting came out as a weak sigh.

"Hey," she struggled to keep the sorrow out of her voice and off of her face.

"What's the news?" He whispered, after taking a couple of breaths.

"You're getting better," Ruby told him.

"The doctor's been giving me that crap for days," he breathed in response. "Give me the hard truth."

"The doctor has countered the venom," Ruby told him, repeating what the doctor had told her earlier. "Ren insisted on bringing Tyrian's stinger along, and that might have saved your life."

"Might?" There was a hint of his old, cynical smile.

"The poison did a lot of damage," Ruby told him, now telling the patient what the doctor told her to not tell him. "Even though it's been neutralized, he isn't sure if the damage it did will..." she couldn't bring herself to finish.

"If it will kill me, leave me crippled, or if I'll recover." Qrow concluded for her. "Now it's the waiting game, and I hate waiting."

"Is there anything I can do?" She asked him.

"I don't think you'd do it, even if I asked," Qrow wheezed back.

"What's that?" Ruby pleaded.

"I prefer my own medicine," he sighed.

"Uncle Qrow, I'm not sneaking whiskey to you!" She retorted.

"Damn doctors are the same, all over the world," he weakly shook his head. "All of them think that grains are natures gift to man...until the grain encounters fermentation and distillation. Then it suddenly becomes a scourge."

"So if I get you a bottle of the local stuff," Ruby offered. "Do I get half?"

"There's no way in hell you're taking up the bottle," he gasped, showing some temper.

Ruby simply fixed him with a level gaze, allowing him to sample his own hypocrisy.

"Fine," he finally murmured. "That's what I get for trying to be the cool uncle."

"You _ **are**_ the cool uncle," Ruby assured him. "And I want you to get better so you can be as cool as you ever were."

Qrow slumped into silence for several minutes. Thinking he had fallen asleep, Ruby quietly got to her feet and started to tiptoe towards the door.

"How much has this put you kids back?" His sighing voice asked.

"We didn't have the money to pay the doctor," Ruby told him. "So we took on a job to eliminate grimm in the area. We got lucky after three days, the whole pack stumbled onto us and we were able to get rid of them all...and wound up with another mystery."

"Oh?" Qrow asked. Ruby flinched at the amount of effort it took the man to lift one eyebrow to show his curiosity.

"I don't think you need to hear about it right now," Ruby protested. "As weak as you are..."

"Pipsqueak," he interrupted. "The only thing I have to do is lay here and feel sorry for myself. What did you stumble into?"

Ruby spent the next several minutes slowly and clearly telling her uncle about the encounter with the newcomer.

"Okay, pipsqueak," he murmured. "I know that a fight at night can be confusing, but are you sure he was overpowering a grimm of that size?"

"Nora will confirm it," she told him. "She saw him do it and then throw a creep into a tree hard enough to kill it."

"So his semblance is super strength," Qrow managed a weak shrug.

"His aura hasn't been unlocked," Ruby told him. "He said something about Mystical Monkey Power. At first, I thought that was what they called a semblance in his world, but you can't use your semblance if your aura isn't unlocked, can you?"

"I've never heard of it," Qrow admitted. "Did he tell you what the guy from his world was trading?"

"He only said that he saw closed crates, that seemed to be heavy for their size," Ruby shrugged.

"I wonder how their technology stacks up to ours?" The patient wondered.

"Uncle Qrow, I disassembled the staff he brought with him," Ruby told the hunter. "It had a dust crystal in it, but I think the crystal had been added as an afterthought. Instead, there was a space to hold something else. I asked Ron about it and he said that it was for the battery."

"What's a battery?" Qrow asked.

"He said it was a power source, something to do with acid dissolving metal and producing electricity."

"Some scientists at the academy play around with things like that," Qrow lifted a trembling hand to scratch at his chin. "They're just toys, who would mess with something like that when it's so much easier to use dust crystals?"

"I don't think there is dust on his world," Ruby told him. "Uncle Qrow, I don't want to keep you up with everything we talked about, but his stories make sense for someone who came from a world without dust and auras."

"They probably also make sense for someone who is trying to convince you that he's from a different world," Qrow whispered in reply. "Some people, like Yang's mother, have a semblance that can open portals. Someone could have done that to sneak this Ron character into your party."

"We talked about that," Ruby countered. "Jaune, Ren, Nora and me. What would be the point? If some faction wanted to stop us, knew where we were and had the ability to open a portal, why wouldn't they just drop hunters we couldn't beat on top of us? Why go through the time and effort of trying to sneak a stranger into our team?"

"There's no reason I can think of," Qrow sighed. "But it's the reasons that you can't think of that usually come back to hurt you. Keep an eye on this Ron character, don't let him in on your plans. He might be a spy but he might just be what he claims. If so, we need to get him to one of the academies as soon as we can."

"We're not going anywhere until you're better," Ruby pointed out.

"And how are the lot of you holding up while waiting?" He asked. "You tracked down the grimm pack to pay the doctor, how about the innkeeper?"

"If there's a good thing about troubled times, it means there's work for hunters; even half-trained ones," Ruby replied, her voice bitter. "We've already set up agreements to patrol outlying farms and the road to the nearest villages. It will pay for room, board and maybe put a little money in our pockets when we're ready to leave."

"And it will give you experience, if you survive," her uncle added.

"I wanted to become a huntress to protect people," Ruby growled. "Not to charge for my services."

"We can go into economics some other time," the patient told her. "Now, why don't you go back to your team and get ready to give the folks who are paying you good service for their money? Take this Ron guy with you, keep an eye on him and see if he tries to manipulate you into doing something. Talk to me when you can."

"Okay," she agreed. "I love you, Uncle Qrow."

"And you irritate me," he breathed in return. "Now get outta here."

After his niece left his room, Qrow spent several minutes catching his breath, preparing for an exertion that he really didn't have the energy to attempt. Finally, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Several minutes later, a large, black bird flew to his window. Gasping for breath, the injured hunter managed to whisper to the bird. Finished, Qrow Branwen collapsed into oblivion while the bird flew away.

Ruby left the doctor's office and made her way down the street towards the inn. She noted the crowd of onlookers at the village square well before reaching her destination. She turned towards the group, knowing what she would find. Even though her short stature prevented her from seeing what was taking place, the sounds of a hammer striking a shield were unmistakable. While she wasn't an awe-inspiring physical specimen, she was every inch a huntress, and that vocation commanded a certain respect. When she politely asked the onlookers to let her through, they stood aside for her to pass. Sure enough, she found Nora squared off against Jaune. Ruby took a few minutes to observe.

The orange-haired girl was still the better fighter, although the blonde boy had closed the gap a great deal. Nora's powerful hammer blows still knocked Jaune off of the ground but instead of sending him sprawling, like they would have a couple of weeks ago, the blonde tucked, rolled and regained his feet. Jaune then charged Nora and the girl was hard pressed to get her hammer in position to block the sword slash. Nora was forced to retreat, something Jaune had never managed before, before she went into her spinning attack.

Normally, Jaune would try to time her spin and get in behind her hammer. Today, the blonde jumped into the air, over the hammer and descended on Nora with a slash of his blade. Nora managed to throw herself into a forward somersault and avoid the strike. Her skill with her hammer allowed her to keep it in motion even during the maneuver, striking behind her back. Jaune's increasing skills allowed him to get his shield in place to block the strike, even though he was knocked off of his feet again. Both combatants regained their footing. Nora came on with a powerful swing, which she lowered at the last possible second to strike Jaune on the lower leg. While his aura prevented serious injury, he was still upended. Again, he got his shield between himself and what could have been a finishing blow, but the force of Nora's downward strike caused his shield to hit him in the head.

"That's enough," the orange-haired girl gasped. She offered Jaune a hand up, which the blonde accepted with good grace.

The gathered crowd actually applauded the show before breaking up. Apparently, they didn't get much in the way of entertainment this far from the kingdoms.

"Your decision to jump over her swing was clever and unexpected," Re's calm voice sounded from behind Ruby. "However, you should have either kicked her or dove head first to deliver a sword strike. The extra time to swing your sword downward gave her time to evade."

"Got it," Jaune gasped. "Anything else?"

"I note that Nora is out of breath and sweaty. It is a measure of your improvement that you can drive her to such exertion. A few weeks ago, she would not have been challenged to this extent."

"Thanks," the blonde nodded. "How did your day go?"

"We have obtained such supplies that we will require for our patrol," Ren told him. "Might I suggest that we return to our rooms and perform such maintenance and other preparations so that we can leave at dawn tomorrow?"

Ruby noted that Ron was accompanying Ren, and both were carrying boxes.

"Sounds good to me," Jaune agreed. He winced as his newest collection of bruises, strains and aches made themselves known.

Ruby frowned slightly; it seemed Jaune was always in pain these days. He was pushing himself even harder, having been humiliated by how little he had contributed to the fight against Tyrian. Falling into the party just behind him, next to Nora, she observed his slight limp and knew that by tomorrow, his leg would be in a great deal of pain.

"Ron had some good ideas," Ren told the rest of the group, as they entered the inn and made their way to their common room. Ruby immediately paid close attention, remembering her uncle's words.

"Such as?" Jaune prompted his teammate.

"We had the funds to purchase a large tarp and some rope," Ren answered. "If we should find ourselves without friendly folks close by, we'll be able to shelter from the rain when we camp. I also purchased some coarse linen and simple medicines, putting together our own...what did you call it?"

"First aid kit," the newcomer answered.

Ruby simply nodded, noting that Jaune and Nora did the same, these were only common sense precautions. Wherever he was from, Ron clearly had some experience with field life.

"Other than that, just the usual maintenance supplies and food," Ren continued. The group reached their room and immediately went to work packing and distributing it for the upcoming patrol. Ruby watched and noted that once Team RNJR started to work, Ron pitched in and helped.

"Ron," Ruby tried to make her voice casual. "What do you want to do? I mean, you're trapped in a strange world. That has to be confusing."

"Ren said that you were heading to some academy somewhere," the newcomer answered. "I thought I'd stick with you. It seems the technology here must be equal, or even greater than the technology from my world. If I can get to some university, I may be able to find someone who can use the PDVI to send me back home."

"Vale is an academy dedicated to training hunters like ourselves," Ren told him. "Yet I am sure some of the faculty there will have contacts with the more scientifically inclined. Going to Vale seems a good first step towards the goal of returning you to your proper place."

"But we have to get Qrow on his feet, first," Ruby insisted.

"How long is that going to take?" Ron asked. "I've already been here for a day! KP might be in trouble! and even if she isn't, she doesn't know that I'm alive and safe! What are my parents going through? What about Rufus?"

"Rufus?" Jaune asked.

"Another friend of mine," Ron answered him. "He's a naked mole rat."

"A what?" Jaune was now as confused as Ron.

"Hairless rodent. About so big," he held his hands a few inches apart. "Lives in my pocket."

"Your pet?" Ruby asked.

"Never let him hear you say that," Ron told her, completely serious. "The little guy holds a grudge."

"It doesn't matter," Ruby told him. "We're not leaving until Uncle Qrow is better."

"Nobody's going to argue that," Jaune assured her. "We're sticking close until he recovers. Ron, if you'll come with us on our patrols, you'll learn more about our world."

"Okay, but if you can find some way to get me to one of these academies earlier, I'll appreciate it," the blonde newcomer told the team.

"Fine," Jaune answered. "Let's turn in and get a solid night's sleep. We're going to be on the move early tomorrow."

Unfortunately for Ruby, she couldn't settle down enough to sleep. She had fallen in love and couldn't rest. After tossing and turning for a couple of hours, she finally decided that she had to act on her desires. Carefully and quietly slipping out of her sleeping bag, she padded stealthily out of the team room and made her way to the inn's common room. This late at night, the crowd was small so she was able to find a table to herself and indulge.

She pulled the multi-tool that Ron had loaned her out of a pocket and once again, lovingly, touched and inspected each and every tool on the device. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at both the straight cutting blade and the serrated saw. She almost quivered with delight as she looked at the screwdriver points, large and small, as well as standard and four-point. She wondered for a moment why Ron called the four-point ends 'Phillips', but soon forgot that question as she again admired the pliers and bottle-opener, the file and the can opener. Even the handle formed a small ruler, although the dimensions were slightly off from what she was accustomed to using.

Soon she was making sketches and notes. Depending on how the upcoming mission turned out, she might make enough money to hire the local blacksmith to make her own multi-tool, one with the specific tools she would need to maintain Crescent Rose! For a moment, she felt guilty, thinking that she should be protecting people because she was a huntress, not for payment. She remembered her uncle and Ren both assuring her that there was no dishonor in charging for her work, just as there was no dishonor in the doctor charging for his services. Of course, once the blacksmith made this for her, he would probably make a great deal of money making them for other folks. Ruby was surprised that nobody had thought of making these things.

Her inner geek sated, she carefully gathered her notes and sketches and made her way back to towards her team's room. As she reached the stairs, she heard a faint but familiar sound from outside the inn's back door. Ruby investigated, even though she knew what she would find. At this time of night, the inn's kitchen yard was deserted...usually. Tonight, Jaune was going through his night time workout again, to Pyrrha's haunting, recorded voice. Again, Ruby found a shadow and watched her friend.

"Does he know you're watching him?" A gentle voice, after Jaune had run through his routine three times, nearly caused Ruby to jump out of her skin.

She spun around, pulling Crescent Rose from her back, to see Ron standing nearby.

"It's not a good idea to sneak up on a huntress," she told him, managing to both whisper and growl at the same time.

"A bad habit," Ron admitted, holding his hands up in a pacifying gesture. "I spent some time at a ninja school and I like to keep in practice. Still, does he know you're watching him?"

"No," she shook her head.

"So you don't know what to do about this?" Ron asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Ruby informed him.

"There's more to this than just training," Ron observed, to Ruby's irritation. "I can hear whoever is talking on the recording. She's doing more than just instructing him, isn't she?"

"I said I don't want to talk," Ruby reminded him, putting a little more grit in her voice.

"It sounds like she wants to make a confession, and it's eating him up," Ron concluded. "I take it she's not with him anymore."

"She's not around anymore," she hissed. "We told you about a battle in Vale and Beacon. She died during that battle." Ruby couldn't keep the quaver out of her voice when she continued, "right in front of me, I was too late getting there."

Ron extended a hand, as if to put in on her shoulder in a comforting manner, but pulled it back. Instead, he asked, "I take it that she and Jaune were more than friends."

"They should have been," Ruby told him, forgetting that he was a stranger and letting her feelings flow out. "She helped him train, picked him up when he was feeling down, and got sweet on him but he didn't realize it. I don't know what happened on the last day or so, but I think he realized just how she felt about him...just in time for her to boot him out of danger and take on someone that she had no business fighting."

"Why didn't she say something earlier?" Ruby asked. "She was the best of us all, capable, beautiful, confident and kind. How can someone like that not tell a guy how she feels?"

"Because she was afraid of the answer," Ron told her. "What do you do if there's someone who you're absolutely crazy about and you think you're so lucky just to be part of her life that you don't dare screw it up? You want to tell her that you think of her as more than a friend, but what if she doesn't feel the same way? Where do you go from there?"

"Uh, Ron," she murmured. "We're talking about Pyrrha, not Jaune."

"So you tell yourself that you're just lucky that she's your friend, you should be satisfied with the sitch," Ron continued as if he didn't hear her. "Until she falls head over heels over the new hottie. Then it's eating you up so much that you just have to tell her but you look at him and realize that you have nothing on him."

"Ron, I don't think you're on the same page that I am," Ruby tried to interrupt again.

"She's so happy with him, so you keep your mouth shut and walk away," Ron continued. "Then comes that moment when he lets her down and she's at her lowest, so you go for broke and finally admit what you're feeling. Of course, because you're so scared, you tell her in the silliest way possible and can only be thankful that she realized what you meant and ran with it."

"That might explain the dance," Ruby whispered. "But I still think you're going off on a tangent here."

"So you're the happiest you've ever been," Ron now sobbed. "Your best friend is now your girlfriend and despite the occasional dumb move and misunderstanding, you're solid...right up until the day she goes to the far side of the world to go to college. Then you finally get a chance to say what you really want to and you're determined to not let your nerves stop you this time. What happens? You wind up getting sucked through a portal to another world and you don't know if you'll ever make it back."

Suddenly, Ron looked at Ruby again, his expression almost as sad as Jaune's.

"The words you never said hurt the worst," he told her, a tear running down his cheek. "If you tell her how you feel and she says no, at least you have your answer. If you never get around to it, you'll never know and she'll never know. Remember that, Ruby. If you need to tell somebody something, tell them. The perfect moment might never happen. Instead, you suddenly find yourself in a strange world where everyone around you has some sort of super power, demons without souls kill people and you're stuck far away from anyone that even might be able to get you back home."

"We should probably turn in," Ruby told the newcomer, her voice shaking. "We're going to be on the trail at sunup and we'll need to be alert."

"Go ahead," Ron told her. "I just need a moment or two."

Ruby simply nodded before looking back at Jaune. The blonde boy was just starting his routine, once again. Deciding that both blondes needed a moment, she padded back to their room.

She wasn't outside when Jaune finished this latest repetition and decided that he was tired enough to sleep without dreaming. Sheathing his blade and recovering his scroll, he made his way towards the inn's door but was distracted by a quiet voice. He followed it around a corner and saw Ron, standing under a tree next to the inn, his face illuminated by dim light from his scroll...or Kimmunicator.

"... _I know that you're out of coverage at the moment,_ " a female voice sounded from the device. " _So you'll be hearing this when you get a signal. I just wanted to say that I'm looking forward to having you with me again, even if it's just for a few days. I...I called in a favor and booked a room at a resort in the Alps. I want to spend some time, just the two of us, after we take Dementor down. I've missed you so much and I want to make some memories to hold onto until we can get together again."_

 _There was a pause before, "I love you Ron and these few months, without you here, have been rough. I..I think we have to come up with some other way of getting ready for our future. I don't like us being apart. So looking forward to seeing you again."_

Ron sobbed quietly and pulled the small box out of his pocket. Opening it, he stared at the ring, tears running down his face. Not fully understanding, but realizing that the newcomer was hurting in the same way he was, Jaune Arc turned away and tiptoed back to the room.

This promised to be an interesting patrol.

* * *

Even the bold and respected General Ironwood, out of necessity, needed his secrets. Thus, Winter Schnee found herself reporting to a nondescript meeting room deep in the interior of the Atlas Academy, rather than her superior's office. She idly wondered how difficult it was for the man, balancing the needs of being the academy's headmaster against those of the Atlas military commander.

Did the requirements of the two offices ever conflict with each other?

Finding the proper room, she centered herself on the door and rapped it firmly, three times.

"Enter."

She opened the door and found herself looking into a small room, containing a meeting table and four chairs. General Ironwood stood at the head of the table.

"Come in and close the door behind you," the general instructed her. Winter did so, then snapped to attention.

"Captain Schnee, reporting as ordered," she rendered a salute. General Ironwood returned the gesture.

"Be seated," he instructed her, gesturing towards the chair to his right. She took the indicated chair, carefully walking slow enough that he would be seated before she would.

"Prompt, proper and courteous as always," he commented. "Even when you are dealing with your...personal issue."

"I can assure the general that I will not allow family matters to affect my performance," she assured her commander.

"You may wish to reconsider," he told her. "Because that is exactly what I'm about to order you to do." A ghost of a smile flickered across his face at her confused expression. "Captain Schnee, a military commander must demand and display conformity and absolute obedience. It is how a military force best operates; with every member subordinating himself or herself to the force, so that the unit operates at maximum efficiency. On the other hand, a headmaster must develop each student to his or her greatest potential, this means treating each as an individual, as each has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. While these two offices I hold may seem contradictory, they are not, at least not in the long run. They are different ways of accomplishing the same goal; protecting our kingdom."

"I believe I understand," Captain Schnee responded, when he paused to allow her to speak. "Although my lack of experience training civilians means I don't fully appreciate the requirements of a headmaster."

"That's honest," General Ironwood allowed himself a slight nod of approval. "As much as the goal of the two offices is the same, there can be conflict in the short term. I am experiencing such a conflict and have brought you here to help resolve this."

"I shall do my best," she assured him.

"Very well," again, the ghost of a smile flickered across his face again. "ENTER!"

General Ironwood rose to his feet, prompting the captain to do the same, as a side door opened. Captain Schnee's eyes flew wide when she recognized...

"Weiss!" She gasped, before leaping forward to catch her younger sister in a fierce embrace. "Where have you been? What happened? I thought..."

Suddenly recalling her audience, Winter disentangled herself from her sister's embrace and stood at attention again.

"My apologies, General," she stammered. "I allowed my emotions..."

"The headmaster needs to refresh himself," he interrupted. "I will return here in exactly ten minutes. At that time, Winter Schnee, the three of us will decide how to handle your minor sister's unique situation."

Despite understanding that she was in the presence of the headmaster, not the general, Winter couldn't keep herself from snapping to attention as the man exited the room. The moment the door was closed, she twirled on her sister again.

"What happened?" She demanded. Winter then listened with irritation, but not surprise, as her sister described her grounding and their father's intention to utilize his younger daughter to best benefit the Schnee Dust Company. She then listened with pride to Weiss describing how she used her isolation to improve her summoning ability, culminating in her summoning the giant armor...and breaking her window.

"Kline is a quick thinker," Weiss concluded. "He pointed out that when father got home, he would probably take Myrtenaster away from me. So I decided it was time to get out. He sent me here, then took some of my best jewelry and pawned it at some shops down by the docks. After that, he gave some of my traveling clothes to some girls getting on ships."

"Which meant that the detectives father hired assumed you had pawned jewelry to pay for a ticket," Winter actually allowed herself an admiring smile. "It fooled me, as well. However, you are now here and we must make our decision. You are still a minor child and by law, you must be returned to father. On the other hand, I suspect that the gen...er...the headmaster has other ideas."

"I'm not going back to father," Weiss told her older sister. "He wants to use me as a figurehead for the company. I've worked long and hard to hone my combat abilities. I will make my way in this world as a huntress, even if I spend the rest of my life as a pauper."

"I'm proud of you," Winter hugged her sister again. "Although that leaves the little twit, Whitley, as the heir, it gets you out of father's grip."

A sharp rap on the door interrupted the conversation.

"Please come in," Winter called to the door. It opened to admit the general and headmaster.

"Please be seated, ladies," he told them. "Now, Miss Schnee, times two, I find myself in a difficult situation. Weiss Schnee has come to my institution, seeking both sanctuary and training. As a headmaster, I'm obligated to provide it. Yet, as a general, I am obligated to return her to her father, as per the law. However, I believe that doing so will deprive Atlas, and all of Remnant, of a potential, fine huntress. In this case, I can take the wishes of her sister into account to determine Weiss's future."

"I refuse to return to father," Weiss insisted.

"I agree with this choice," Winter added.

"Before we make any agreements, I want to stress something," James Ironwood told the Schnee women. "Should you agree to place Weiss under my protection, she will be every bit my pawn as she was her fathers at the Schnee mansion."

"Headmaster," Weiss asked. "If this is the case, how will you utilize me?"

"To the best interest of Atlas first, then Remnant," he told her. "Even if it puts you at considerable risk."

"Headmaster Ironwood," the younger Schnee informed him. "It is better to be the pawn of a man you trust and respect, than one you despise. Serving Remnant, even at great risk, is what I want to do."

"Very well," a slight smile appeared, then quickly vanished from his face. "I will now leave. In thirty minutes, two students will arrive and conduct Weiss to a secluded and exclusive dormitory, made to house the very best students at Atlas Academy. Make the most of your time, as I cannot tell when I will be able to arrange for you to meet again." He paused. "If I may be so bold, I would like to say that I am proud of you for taking your first steps towards living your life on your own terms."


	3. Chapter 3

Yang checked the mailbox on the way to the door, finding one bill and two advertisements, but no letters from the people she desperately wanted to hear from. Frustrated, she stalked inside and set about preparing her dinner. Sensing her mood, Zwei acted extra adorable, following her around and demanding attention. Somehow, Yang just couldn't remain in a funk when she was petting her dog.

With dinner simmering on the stove, she retrieved her students' papers from her satchel and started to go through them, assigning grades and making comments. She was better than halfway done when the timer went off, indicating that her meal was ready. She fed Zwei before sitting down to eat, alone. She never realized how much she hated eating alone until it became her routine.

Finished with dinner, she cleared the table in preparation for grading the rest of the homework, when the letter on the refrigerator caught her attention. As always, she couldn't help herself and read the note once again.

 _Dear Yang:_

 _An issue has come up and I must leave to deal with it. I won't lie and say that I'll be back soon. It could take me weeks or even months to complete this mission and it will be very dangerous. There is a possibility that I won't come back. Please don't be angry that I didn't tell you in person, because I knew that if I did, you would try to follow me. Instead, rest assured that not only is this mission vital to all of Remnant, it involves both what happened to Beacon and the reason Ruby has left. I will try to keep you updated, but communication outside of the kingdoms is even harder now that the CCT system is down._

 _I've left my account numbers and other information on the kitchen table. You're old enough now to balance a budget and maintain the house. I suggest that you make a quick visit to Signal Academy, as with both myself and Qrow gone, they may be desperate for someone experienced in hand to hand combat. Please stay strong, so that if Ruby chooses to return, she has a home to come back to._

 _Always remember I love you._

 _Your father,_

 _Taiyang._

As per her usual reaction, she couldn't decide if she should cry or grind her teeth. She settled for a sigh before she finished cleaning the kitchen and grading her students' papers. She was almost beginning to feel sorry for the trouble she caused her teachers back when she was a student at Signal.

Almost.

With her work done for the day, she did a little studying for her classes at Beacon. While the huntsman academy hadn't reopened yet, Yang held out hope that one day it would. When that happened, she intended to complete her education. In the meantime, she taught at Signal and was able to test herself against other instructors, keeping her skills honed. Still, she would have preferred to have her father home. Yang Xiao Long was a social person and this isolation grated at her almost as much as not knowing how her father, sister and uncle were faring.

She had to give credit where credit was due; her father was clever. By pointing out that Ruby may try to come home, he had confined her to Patch even more securely than if he had used a chain and a lock. She honestly didn't know if she wanted to hit him or hug him when she saw him again. One thing she knew for sure, she hated waiting for something to happen.

For now, the only thing to do was to keep busy and try to gain some insight as to what her father, uncle and sister were involved in. She watched the news and corresponded with both Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck, hoping to learn something. The two professors (one doctor!) were very guarded in their responses and the news only reported on the tensions between the kingdoms, so she really didn't have a clue where to start looking.

Still, one thing was for certain, once she had both an opportunity and a lead, she was going to be on the road. Nothing was going to keep her away from her sister, father and uncle when they needed help.

* * *

"The basis of all combat is hand to hand," Ren's calm voice lectured Jaune and Ron. "Weapons are merely extensions of your own body. By training to fight empty-handed, we not only prepare ourselves for such times that we may be disarmed, we enhance our ability to fight with them. Very well, Ron, stand off against me."

Ruby sneaked a quick peek behind her and saw Ren squaring off against Ron. After the first few strikes and kicks, she returned her attention to the meadow, where it belonged.

It had been three days of uneventful patrolling around the village, even though this was the first night that they were forced to camp in the open. The first two nights, they had stayed in the barns of friendly farmers. This evening, as the sun found its way to the western horizon, they were away from any handy settlements. Instead of a roof over their heads, they found a small grove of trees in an open meadow. They were out of sight and Nora and Ruby, while sitting in branches on opposite side of the grove, would be able to see anyone or anything approaching their camp. The wide meadow meant that the watchers could sneak the occasional glance back at the impromptu training session.

Ruby was painfully aware that she didn't have a great deal of bare-handed fighting capability, but she was skilled enough to recognize those who were well trained. She quickly came to the conclusion that Ron was skilled in a form of martial arts that most would consider unorthodox. His movements were very unpredictable, giving Ren considerable difficulty. Either the newcomer wasn't calling upon his Mystical Monkey Power, like he claimed, or he was play-acting having less capability than he displayed the night he dropped into their camp. While Ren had difficulty, the usually quiet, reserved young man was eventually able to defeat the blonde. Then, it was Jaune's turn.

Ruby could only watch occasionally, as she had to keep her eyes on the meadow, but she felt a surge of pride in Jaune and gratitude towards Pyrrha. Jaune had less than a year of proper training, yet the improvement he showed was absolutely breathtaking. He wasn't a match for Ren, yet he forced the dark-haired young man to work hard to prove victorious. Ren excused himself from the training to prepare their evening meal and Ruby wasn't surprised to see Jaune ask Ron to spar against him.

Despite the fact that Ron's aura hadn't been awakened, he clearly had experience when it came to fighting other people. He wasn't unskilled, he was just...different. Most hunters and huntresses liked to take to the air, using strength, aura, semblance or other means to get up high and come down upon their adversaries; this was why the fighting academies, such as Signal, emphasized landing strategies so heavily. Ron, on the other hand, liked to duck low; he would suddenly drop and scissor his opponent's legs or spring back up with a kick, landing devastating uppercuts with his feet. The only counter was to keep aware and react quickly, which provided excellent all-purpose training.

Ron had a couple of new bruises and Jaune had several by the time Ren finished dinner. Jaune relieved Ruby on watch and they trusted Ron enough to allow him to spell Nora...at least while someone else was watching as well. Ruby enjoyed comparing notes, so to speak, with Ren and the orange-haired girl, planning on how to keep Jaune on the right path. Unfortunately, she couldn't spend very long speaking. They had to get Jaune and Ron fed and the fire out by the time the sun went down. As was his usual habit, Ron washed the dishes while Team RNJR discussed their next moves. Finally, Ruby took first watch while everyone else bedded down.

Her watch passed quietly, giving her entirely too much time to think about Jaune, Ren, Qrow, and the mystery that Ron presented. Would Haven be strong and safe when they finally reached the academy? Would they find answers once there? Ruby came to the uncomfortable conclusion that they could very well simply find more questions requiring them to travel even farther. Despite the fact that she had wanted to be a huntress since she knew what they were, Ruby found herself missing her room back on Patch. Finally, her watch came to an end and she woke Jaune for his turn on guard. Tired from another long day, she was quickly asleep.

It was a testament to her increasing experience as a huntress that false dawn woke her. Looking around, she saw Jaune, Nora and Ron stirring in their sleeping bags. Ren's bag was empty, indicating that he was still on watch. Stretching to work a kink out of her back, she pulled on her boots, picked up Crescent Rose and slipped away from camp to take care of morning business. Soon, the gear was packed and the five of them were gathered around the fire, where Ron was preparing breakfast.

"Anybody have anything to report about their watch last night?" Jaune asked his team. A round of shaken heads answered him.

"The night noises went quiet for a few minutes during my watch," the blonde told the rest. "It might have been a coincidence, it might have meant that a natural predator was lurking about, or it might mean that people were moving after dark."

"If people were moving, they could have been moving for legitimate reasons," Nora pointed out.

"Or raiders could be scouting the area," Ren countered. "We know that at least one tribe is in the region."

"So what do we do?" Ruby asked, preparing her pack for a long day's walk.

"We ask everyone what they know," Jaune decided. "The badge the village headman gave us has been handy in getting people to trust us. Now, according to the map, there should be a settlement about four miles down the road."

With that, the five young people set out on their patrol. It took a couple of hours to reach the settlement, as they passed two outlying farms and stopped to talk to people. Much as with the previous days' travel, the locals became much more talkative when they saw the headman's badge. The first farmer, working in his field close to the road, said that nobody from his household was on the roads after dark, but his dogs woke him up after midnight. He hadn't found anything amiss on his property. The second farmer also stated that his family was inside from sundown to sunup, but hadn't been disturbed during the night.

The settlement proved to be four farmhouses located close together. Most of the adults were working in the fields, but an elderly woman stated that she had received word from her sister's family, some six miles away, that chickens had come up missing the night before last.

"Not the work of the grimm," she told them. "They don't bother simple animals but raiders, aye, raiders would take such."

Team RNJR quickly worked out the location of the sister's home and realized that it wasn't on the route they had intended to patrol.

"Plans have to change," Jaune said. "The village has hired us to deal with grimm and raiders. If we're taking their payment, let's go deal with what's bothering the farmers."

The rest of the team agreed.

The new route took them on a muddy trail, rather than a well-maintained and clear road. There were few signs of human presence along this path, leading the team to wonder if the elderly woman had sent them off on a dead end...either intentionally or not. However, they finally found a cottage.

The elderly couple proved to prefer solitude and were not very impressed with the headman's badge. Still, they had at least the proper respect for hunters and freely admitted that they were short several eggs three nights previously, had lost a chicken the night before last, and vegetables had vanished from their garden last night. When Ren suggested that foxes or raccoons could be responsible, the old man snorted in irritation and pointed out that he found a human footprint in his garden's soft soil.

"I don't need your help," the old man snorted, when Jaune offered to guard their home that night. "It's that no-good Gevir family, I know it. The husband is a faunas and so is one of his kids! That sort doesn't discipline their children, but I will! Come tonight, I'll be ready and give that brat a good thrashing. I don't need your help for that."

While they elderly couple were clearly more than ready to see Team RNJR leave them alone, they at least had the manners to point out the direction of the Gevir home.

"I don't think that it's in our authority to look into disputes like this," Jaune protested to Ren, when the dark-haired young man insisted on paying a visit to the Gevir family. "In fact, we're outsiders. We'll probably do more harm than good."

"That's assuming that the Gevir children are doing this," Ren informed him. "If we speak to their parents, I have no doubt that the kids were safely at home all night last night, and the following two nights. In fact, the Gevir's are probably missing a few items, themselves."

"How do you know this?" Ruby asked. "It's almost as if..."

"We've been through it before," Nora interrupted. "Five years ago."

"What, you guys were only twelve, thirteen years old!" Ruby interrupted.

"And my mother was on the town council," Ren added. "She and my father talked about what was happening, not realizing that I could hear them."

"Or that he talked to his best friend," Nora chimed in.

"This is how it started," Ren continued. "Even though I didn't realize it at the time. My mother had heard of an attack on another village, dozens of miles away, so she was more alert than usual, even though she didn't think that bandits would attack a town of our size."

"Are you talking about Oniyuri?" Ruby gasped.

Rather than answer, Ren focused his gaze on the muddy path.

"It doesn't make sense!" Jaune protested. "That was five years ago! Wouldn't the bandits move on in that time?"

"They aren't fools," Ren murmured. "I have no doubt that they skip around the continent. If they simply follow a road and attack each village in turn, eventually they'll run into a massive ambush. So instead, after hitting a couple of villages, they send scouts many miles away to find good targets. They struck Shion a couple of weeks ago. Now, some twenty miles away, there are people moving on the roads at night and thefts at outlying farms."

"It still could be coincidence," Jaune argued. "I mean, it could be some vagabond or even a bad neighbor stealing from the elderly couple...but, that's why you want to see the Gevirs and make sure, isn't it?"

"Exactly," Ren nodded. "I believe that the bandits have left the area, spent years elsewhere, and have now returned. Still, even if it isn't bandits, you have to admit the thieves are being clever. By selecting a home close to a faunas family, they can exploit the tensions between the species."

Ruby noted that Ron looked a little troubled at this, but the newcomer kept his mouth shut.

"Well, we might as well wonder about what we'll do once we get back from this patrol!" Nora suggested, with her usual enthusiasm.

"It depends on how Qrow is doing," Ruby told her, unable to match the older girl's happiness. "If he's not ready to travel, I'm not leaving."

"And the team doesn't break up," Jaune added, putting a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder. "If Ruby stays, we all stay."

"Okay, I was thinking more along the lines of how do we unwind for a day or two," the orange-haired girl admitted. "But since it has come up, what do we do if Qrow isn't going to be up to the road any time soon?"

"He will!" Ruby snapped at her friend. "He's tough, he'll get better, you'll see!"

"But it may take time that we do not have available," Ren pointed out.

"Are you saying we'll just leave him?" Ruby demanded. "Because I won't!"

"I am not about to abandon your uncle," Ren assured his younger friend. "But there are actions we can take, to see to his safety, that don't involve abandonment."

"Like what?" Ruby almost yelled at him.

"You may have noticed that we make a comfortable living as a hunters' party," he answered, his voice calm. "If he is capable of travel, but not capable of combat, we can travel to a coast city and purchase passage to a safe place. The city of Vale is reasonably secure and is a busy trading port, we should be able to send him there, where his contacts at Signal will keep him safe until he is capable of defending himself again."

"It's also close to Patch," Jaune pointed out. "I'm sure your father won't turn him away."

"Qrow and dad don't get along all that well," Ruby admitted. "But they were on the same team, back in the day. There's no way Taiyang is going to turn him away. Okay, I'll think about it, but we wait until we see how he's doing before we make any decisions!"

"Agreed," both Ren and Jaune assured her, at the same time.

"Uh, guys," Ron spoke up. "If you send Qrow to this Vale place, is there a university there? If so, could I go along with him? It might get me home sooner."

"That's a possibility," Jaune admitted. "But it's still going to depend on Qrow."

Mollified somewhat, Ruby was able to calm herself enough to listen to Nora talk about how she wanted to dance, once they got back to the inn.

"Some of the shopkeepers and workers can play instruments," she was explaining. "Sure, they aren't at the level of Vale nightclub performers, but they can belt out a lively tune, just right to dance to and they're in the common room almost every night! I think we could talk them into..."

A scream, faint in the distance, interrupted her.

"That's up ahead!" Ruby declared. "You don't suppose..."

"The Gevirs could be under attack," Ren informed her, picking up his pace. "But at any rate, we're hunters and huntresses; it's our job to go towards the screams...even if it isn't the smartest move."

Team RNJR, plus Ron, broke into a controlled run on the muddy path. Ruby chafed at the pace; knowing that she could be in the middle of the situation in a matter of seconds but bowing to the necessity of keeping together as a group until they knew what they were facing. She had a brief moment of hoping the screams were nothing more than a couple of kids playing before the team climbed a small hill and looked on a scene that had become too familiar to them; grimm on a rampage. A mixed group of beowolves and creeps was trying to batter an entrance into a home.

Wood splintered and the front door fell apart. A window opened, allowing an adult and two children to escape. The grimm spotted them almost immediately.

"Ruby, get to the family!" Jaune yelled. "The rest of us, take on the grimm!"

Further words weren't necessary; Ruby utilized her semblance, rushing past the grimm pack, slicing a leg off of a beowolf as she went by them. Then, she was between the people and the grimm, staring down the oncoming creatures.

"Get clear!" She shouted to the civilians behind her, then the grimm pack, fueled on by the terror that the family emitted, was on top of her.

This was why she wanted to become a huntress! To put herself between danger and the innocent! The needs of intense conflict drove the concern for her sister, uncle and friends out of her mind. There was no time to think of some shadow queen plotting with some insane scientist from another reality. There was no time to debate if Ron was really from another reality or some sort of spy. There was only the need to dodge and strike, to parry and slash. While most of the dark creatures converged on her, the nearest target, several sensed greater fear in the fleeing family and tried to edge by her.

Ruby swept to her right, her skill and her semblance turning Crescent Rose into a blur of slashing metal. Two creeps and three beowolves fell, dismembered, as she stifled the grimm attempt to pass by her on that side. Before she could rush back to the left, Nora came plunging out of the sky on that side, swinging her hammer with a blow that both softened her landing and crushed a creep. Then the orange-haired girl was in her spinning attack, lashing out at any grimm who approached her, sending them flying. To Ruby's surprise, Ron came plowing through the grimm in the center, positioning himself between the pack and the family.

The newcomer wielded the staff he had with him on the night he arrived. He didn't energize the weapon; instead, he used it as a plain staff; striking, thrusting and blocking. A blue nimbus surrounded the blonde, but it wasn't an aura; instead, it was like he was surrounded by a cool, blue flame. Whatever his background, he was skilled at using the staff, the weapon moved almost as fast as Crescent Rose while Ruby used her semblance and delivered blows every bit as powerful as Nora's hammer. Then the grimm were swarming again, and Ruby had no time to spend observing Ron, but she did hear him babbling in fear even as he fought.

"I used to think monkeys were bad," he whined, although his complaints didn't seem to inhibit his ability. "Now these! I was wrong, monkeys aren't the worst! Thanks a lot fate! Why can't it ever be crazed super-models attacking me?"

Now more caution was needed; Ruby had allies as well as innocents in the potential line of fire. With another downward slash, she fired Crescent Rose into the ground, allowing the recoil to lift her into the air so that she could get an idea of where Jaune and Ren were at. Locating them, she noted that they were compressing the grim horde from behind, trapping the dark creatures between themselves and Nora, Ron and herself. Dropping to the earth again, she fired four more shots, dropping three more grimm before they were once again too close, and her teammates had potentially changed positions, to risk using the rifle. It was back to hacking and slashing.

Using her semblance, she dashed to her right, to the outside edge of the oncoming pack and rushed back towards Ron, dropping a beowolf and a creep on the way. Then the grimm pack was broken; they were no longer trying to overwhelm the team in order to get to the civilians; the remaining handful were focusing on whomever was closest. Without an immediate opponent, Ruby had the chance to observe her companions, particularly Jaune and Ron, a little more closely.

Jaune showed his improvement. Several grimm lay around him and he was confronted with two creeps. As the first lunged at him, mouth open, the blonde stabbed into its maw, piercing though the roof of the creature's mouth while swatting the other with his shield. Jaune didn't slow, kicking the first creep off of his blade, then spinning and slashing to decapitate the remaining grimm. Ron also had several grimm lying near him as he squared off against a final beowolf. The newcomer used his staff to block the grimm while he dropped low and kicked the creatures legs out from under it. A flailing claw caught him across the lower arm, but the young man ignored the pain long enough to bring his staff down with a blow that crushed the dark beast's head. With that, the battle was over.

"So much worse than monkeys," Ron gasped, while grabbing his wounded arm. Then, the grimm were dissolving. "Sick and wrong," he shook his head. "Even if it's convenient."

"Nora, Ren, see to Ron," Jaune told the lifelong friends. "Ruby, with me."

As a young girl, Ruby never considered the aftermath of battles against the grimm; once you defeated them, you went on to the next battle...after perhaps accepting the thanks of grateful civilians. She never pictured dealing with distraught, emotional people who had lost everything. The last couple of months had given her a crash course on this very difficult aspect of being a huntress.

Of course, Jaune was being smart by having the two of them speak to what appeared to be a woman and her two children. Even though the blonde was still the weakest fighter in Team RNJR, he was the tallest and broadest. The team had learned that civilians who had just been subject to an attack seemed to respond best to imposing looking hunters; and Ruby had to admit that the strenuous lifestyle was making Jaune fill out rather nicely.

She gave her head a quick shake to get rid of that thought. While she was probably the strongest fighter on the team, she was also the youngest and smallest. People tended to respond to her presence by trying to regain control of their emotions, so her and Jaune speaking to them was a solid strategy to get emotionally shattered people to pull themselves together enough to listen to reason and get out of immediate danger.

As she suspected, the civilians were a woman and her two children. One of the children, a young boy, proved to be a faunas with small antlers. Ruby didn't pay close attention to the conversation Jaune had with the woman, keeping watch for more grimm or other dangers, but she caught enough words to realize what had happened. Last night, four bandits arrived just before sunup. They killed the father and brutalized the mother and her children. After that, they took anything of value that they could carry and left, just before the grimm arrived.

"It's not safe for you here," Jaune told them, in a gentle voice. "Do you have friends or family nearby where we can take you?"

The woman didn't consider the elderly couple to be friendly, but she knew of the four-family settlement and thought that they would take her and her children in, at least until they could make other arrangements.

"Okay, we're going to go through your house," Jaune explained. "We'll make sure that there are no grimm inside. After that, I'm going to need you to collect anything you can take with you."

After a few moments' thought, the woman nodded.

"We have a wagon," she told him. "The bandits didn't take it, or our ox. Both are in the barn. That's where we took..."

"Ruby, Nora, please make sure the barn is clear," Jaune told his team. "Ren and I will clear the house."

Ruby was forced to admit that the division of labor, so to speak, made sense. Nora's hammer and her scythe were devastating weapons; but required a great deal of room to use. In a cramped house, Ren's blades and Jaune's sword would be more practical...if needed. Ruby just didn't like the idea of going into a barn where a body was located.

"I can go along to the barn," Ron volunteered. Ruby noted that her friends had bandaged his forearm and the young man seemed to be able to use it, if a little bit gingerly.

The two huntresses quickly confirmed that the barn was clear of enemies, while avoiding looking at the form lying inside. They then gave the family some time alone with their husband and father. The mother only allowed her children a few minutes to grieve before putting them to work hitching wagon to ox. Ruby and Nora had to wipe their eyes, listening to the mother's quiet sobs. Fortunately, Ren and Jaune rejoined them before much time passed.

"The house is clear," Jaune murmured. "But we don't have a great deal of time. It's harsh, but we're going to have to get them to hurry a little."

"Will we have time to bury the farmer?" Nora asked, her voice small. Ruby knew that just leaving the dead behind at Shion still bothered her usually happy friend.

"No," Ren told her. "We're going to be risking too much just by letting the family gather their belongings."

"I may have a solution," Ron interrupted, approaching the team. Ruby realized that he must have walked off, unnoticed, earlier.

"I don't know the customs you folks have," the newcomer continued. "But the family had collected a great deal of firewood. If cremation isn't something you object to, it's a whole lot faster than burying and a whole lot more respectful than just leaving him here."

"I'll bring it up to the mother," Jaune told him. "Ruby, get someplace high, conceal yourself and keep watch.

Ruby did as instructed, watching the surrounding land and sneaking short glances to where her team was assisting the family with their sad task. She wiped at her eyes again as she watched Jaune and Ron first carefully make a pyre of firewood in an open field, then carry the deceased to it. The two then started a small fire a couple of feet away before joining in to assist the family in loading up what possessions they could take with them. As the sun set, the sad task was complete.

Ruby joined the small party as the family said their final goodbyes and said a few words. The mother couldn't bring herself to set fire to the pyre, so Jaune did, lighting a makeshift torch at the smaller fire he had prepared earlier and setting it in the dry wood under Alg Gevir. By the light of the funeral pyre, the mother and daughter climbed onto the wagon. Jaune asked Ruby to lead the way as he took the ox's bridle and guided the animal onto the trail they had traveled earlier that day. To Ruby's surprise, the son volunteered to travel with her.

"I am faunas," he explained. "My night vision and hearing will be better than yours."

"Okay," Ruby agreed in a subdued voice. "But what's your name?"

"Hjort," he answered.

"I'm Ruby," she offered. Without emotion, he turned and led the way. Ruby couldn't fault him his ill manners.

An ox is not a fast animal and when hitched to a loaded wagon, on a narrow and muddy trail, at night, the pace was anything but rapid. Hjort was clearly familiar with the path, and Ruby made a couple of attempts to engage him in conversation, to no avail. The boy wasn't ready to speak to a stranger, even one who had saved his life, just yet. The slow pace and uneventful trip allowed her imagination to exert itself.

She pictured herself in the situation the family found itself in, forced to say a final farewell to her father. Then, suddenly, she thought of what she had put him through. Saying that farewell to a parent would be horrible; saying that farewell to a daughter must be much worse. She wiped tears from her eyes again, imagining what he must be feeling. Taiyang Xiao Long had lost the mothers of his children and now his youngest daughter had left, leaving only a letter behind. Ruby actually staggered, realizing that she had made no effort to send word back to him that she was still well. She wondered if Qrow had some method of letting him know. Her imagination showed her constant pictures of her father, devastated by not knowing her fate, until Hjort's voice intruded.

"Smoke and yelling up ahead," he whispered to her. "Something is happening at the Besk farm."

Ruby assumed that the Besk farm was where the elderly couple, who weren't all that friendly toward faunas, were located. She and Hjort rushed back to the wagon and filled in the rest of the party.

"We don't know what we're running into," Jaune decided. "So we can't leave any of our fighters behind." He looked to the mother, "get away from the path and if anyone or anything other than us approaches you, just run away."

With a nod from their leader, Team RNJR, with Ron, moved forward. The moon gave them enough light to see the path, even though they couldn't see much beyond it. Soon, they could hear coarse laughter and then sobs. As they got closer to the elderly couple's farm, they saw a group of people outside the door, and it didn't appear to be a friendly gathering.

Now, they could see that four burly men in masks and rough clothing surrounded the elderly couple, who were on their knees. One of the men kicked the elderly man in the back, driving his face into the dirt. The elderly woman screamed and the four men laughed at her. One of them then backhanded her across the face, dropping her onto her back. Still more laughter sounded.

Ruby saw red.

"Take them down," Jaune hissed.

Ruby didn't need further encouragement. She broke into the lead and centered her attention on the man who had backhanded the elderly woman. She roared a challenge, her voice joining its rage with her teammates as she charged. Her target and his companions spun to face the oncoming team. He lifted a heavy club but was too slow by far. Crescent Rose slashed once and his club, and the hand holding it, flew off into the night. Before he could grasp what had happened to him, the scythe slashed again and his head flew in a different direction. Ren was right on Ruby's heels, deftly parrying a powerful swing from his opponents sword, driving a knee into his belly before slashing twice, dropping the man to the ground. Nora struck next, shattering both a shield and the arm that braced it with her first swing, her second swing crushed a skull.

To Ruby's surprise, Ron was right on Nora's heels. While the newcomer didn't have an active aura, which provided faster movement, he was clearly fast on his feet. He used his staff to block an ax blow, then responded with a quick thrust. Electricity arced into his opponent, dropping the man to the ground where he writhed in pain. Jaune reached the rest of the group just in time for the aftermath; the sobs of the elderly couple and the stench of blood and bowels. Ruby suddenly felt very sick.

A shriek of anger made the gorge recede back down her throat. She looked up to see another masked figure charging them from out of the night. The bandit thrust a spear at Jaune's back, but the blonde teen had come a long way from the boy who didn't know what a landing strategy was. Jaune spun, shield up, knocking the spear to one side and thrusting with his sword. Crocea Mors struck true, impaling the oncoming bandit through the chest. The bandit's mask shattered on one of Jaune's spaulders, prompting a gasp from the young, blonde man.

The bandit dying on Jaune's blade, now almost nose-to nose with the blonde, was a teenage girl no older than him.

* * *

 _A/N: My thanks to anyone who has read and left a comment. Big thanks to go Joe Stoppinghem for beta-reading for me in yet another fandom._

 _Until next time, best wishes to all._

 _daccu65_


	4. Chapter 4

"Ruby, can I have a word with you?" Ren's voice shook Ruby out of her dark thoughts.

"Of course," she agreed.

With a slight head gesture, he indicated that he would like her to leave the Besk house's common room, where the elderly couple and the wife and children of Elg Gervir sat, tending to their sorrows. Ruby followed her teammate through the small kitchen and out to the farmyard where violence had taken place such a short time ago.

"Where are the others?" She asked her friend. She had been so focused on getting the civilians cared for that she had lost track of everyone.

"Nora's sitting on the roof, on watch," Ren answered. "Our prisoner is tied to a stake, where whomever is on watch can keep an eye on him."

Ruby followed Ren's gesture to where the bandit sat, bound hand and foot.

"Jaune is down at the creek," Ren continued. "He wanted to clean up...badly. I didn't think he should be alone, so I asked Ron to go with him."

For a moment, Ruby was nervous about that situation. She didn't completely trust Ron, at least not yet. Of course, if the newcomer had wanted to betray them, the fight with the grimm would have been a perfect opportunity.

"Jaune is why I wanted to talk to you," Ren interrupted her musings. "We need a team leader and...well...I don't think that Jaune's in any state to be it, at the moment. You were the leader of your team back in Beacon, so I think you should be team leader, at least until we get back to the village. Nora agrees with me."

Ruby flinched, remembering the aftermath of their fight with the bandits. Of course, it hadn't really been a fight so much as a slaughter. The bandits had been caught by surprise and none of them had unlocked auras. Team RNJR, despite being considerably younger, had overmatched their opponents. While she understood the necessity of her actions, Ruby was sickened by what she had done. Of course, she, as well as Nora and Ren, had killed full grown men.

She could imagine what Jaune felt like, having killed a teenager.

"Okay," she agreed. "I'm going to say that we want to rest here for tonight, then leave tomorrow. If any of the civilians want to be escorted to the village, or another settlement, we'll do so, but we're getting our prisoner to the village headman as soon as possible."

"I agree," Ren nodded. "Ruby, I'll give you advice, but the final decisions will be yours. There are more decisions to make."

"Such as?" She prompted.

"Shall I prepare a meal?" He asked. "We haven't eaten since breakfast this morning. The three from Gevir farm haven't eaten since last night."

"We'll try to make up for it in the morning," Ruby decided. "Right now, I don't think I could hold anything down and I don't think the civilians are in any better shape."

She shuddered, remembering dragging the dead bandits away from the cottage. She had felt sick immediately after the battle, but that chore had left her...as well as the rest of her team...retching. For the first time since she had walked through the gates of Signal Academy, she wondered if she was really cut out to be a huntress.

"I agree," Ren nodded. "I will take watch after Nora. I suspect that between our fight the night Ron arrived and the fight at the Gevir farm, we've eliminated most grimm in the area. However, there are a lot of negative emotions in this home at the moment. If any remain, they will probably be drawn here. We must remain alert."

"Why did you ask me to be the team leader?" She asked him, partly a serious question and part an attempt at a joke. "You've already taken care of everything."

"I am a good organizer," he admitted, allowing a small smile to show on his face. "But I'm not very good at making a quick decision in a short time. You and Jaune seem to have a knack for it."

"Go on back inside," she gave his arm a fond pat. "Try to get some sleep. The civilians are probably shook up and while they know Nora's on watch, they'll feel better with a real hunter where they can see him."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to wait for Ron and Jaune to get back," she told him. "If they don't come back in a few minutes, I'll let you know before I leave to look for them."

He nodded and went into the cottage, leaving her alone with her thoughts again. The slaughter of the bandits played through her memories, tormenting her with the details. Team RNJR so clearly outclassed the rough men; hadn't there been some way they could have avoided the fight? Did they perform a rescue, or had it been murder? Fortunately, she wasn't alone for very long.

Ron and Jaune stalked into the farmyard from a path that led to a creek. Her friend was bare-chested, carrying his armor in his arms. As the two approached closer, she could see that his hair was wet and plastered to his scalp and his armor was wet and reflective, clearly having been scrubbed. Ron held a bundle of what appeared to be clothing in his hands. The newcomer hung what proved to be Jaune's shirt and hoodie from a tree's low-hanging branch. Jaune, his face set in a stony expression, found his pack among those Team RNJR had set against the side of the cottage, pulled his cleaning kit out and stalked back to the tree bearing his clothing. Although the light was dim, Ruby could see him pull an oilcloth out of the kit and start cleaning his sword. Ron approached her.

"He doesn't really feel like talking to me," Ron whispered to her. Ruby just nodded as the newcomer made his way into the cottage.

For what felt like a long time, she watched her friend, who seemed determined to polish Crocea Mors until only a dinner knife remained. Ruby racked her brain, trying to find some topic of conversation, some sort of ice breaker that she could use to justify talking to him without looking like she was butting in. Her dilemma was solved by Ren, who emerged from the cottage holding three steaming mugs.

"Mint tea," he told her, with a pointed look at Jaune. "It helps settle queasy stomachs and jangled nerves. Perhaps the three of us can share a cup and conversation."

"Ren, you are a lifesaver," she murmured, taking one of the mugs from him. He managed a weak smile in return, as they walked towards their friend.

"Hey Jaune," Ruby almost flinched at her own words. Was this becoming her code phrase for " _hello friend, we're about to have an awkward conversation?_ "

"Hey," he didn't look up from his task.

"A chilly night to be wet and half naked," Ren commented, handing him a cup of tea.

Jaune set Crocea Mors across his thighs and accepted the cup. Ruby blushed a little as she and Ren settled onto the soft grass; Jaune was definitely filling out his lanky build. She took a healthy sip of the hot, but not scalding, beverage and rolled it around in her mouth. The strong mint removed the last of the taste of her own vomit. Careful to keep her eyes on her companions' faces, she noted them doing the same.

"Rough day," she commented, trying to sound casual about it. Both young men caught their breath, making her feel like an Ursa in a dust shop.

"Yeah," Jaune sighed. "Did you guys ever wonder what we were getting into when we decided to be hunters?"

"I wanted to become a huntress to protect the innocent," Ruby answered. ' _Maybe the blunt approach was the one to take...'_

"Nora and I vowed to never be helpless victims again." Ren told them. "While I _know_ that we did the right thing today, I cannot help but feel guilty for my actions."

"I keep trying to think of what we could have done differently," Jaune's voice was hardly louder than a whisper. "Maybe if we had just stayed the night at the Gervir Farm and left in the morning, we would have avoided this."

"And we would have found our current hosts dead," Ren told him. "The bandits would have already been gone."

"I know," Jaune whispered back. "But knowing doesn't make it any better."

"Back on the train, under Mountain Glen and Vale, I know that some of the White Fang didn't get out," Ruby's voice quavered as she spoke. "I guess you could say that I had something to do with that. I've fought men before but tonight was the first time I..."

"Killed someone face to face," Ren finished for her. "Again, had you not done so, our current hosts would be dead now and the bandits still at large."

"Our hosts versus the bandits," Jaune shook his head. "It seems a good choice to me, but do I have the right to make that decision?"

"We all struck down the bandits," Ren pointed out. "In fact, our greater experience with our auras allowed us to arrive before you and..."

"But I'm the one that gave the order," Jaune interrupted. "I could have called for an attempt to take them alive or just drive them off..."

"And as you have already considered, you had no way of knowing how capable they were," Ren interrupted him this time. "What if they had proven to be equal to or greater than us in combat skills? You would have squandered an advantage."

"So what was the right answer?" Jaune almost pleaded with his companions.

"I don't think there was a right thing to do," Ruby answered, as much to herself as to her companions. "I just think that there were some things more wrong than others."

"Well, welcome to the life of a hunter." Jaune's voice was soft, but the bitterness was obvious.

For the next several minutes, the three sat and drank their tea, the combined melancholy somehow making them feel better. Juane drained the last of his tea and continued to clean his blade. By the time Ruby and Ren finished theirs, the blonde was oiling his armor.

"We're going to have a long day tomorrow," Ruby announced, with a rather theatrical stretch. "We should probably turn in."

"I don't think I'd be able to sleep," Jaune admitted.

"Okay, take over watch from Nora, in an hour," she told him. "I'll take over for you two hours after that."

He gave her an odd look.

"I'm taking over the team," she told him. "You're shook up worse than the rest of us, so let me get us back to the village. After that, we'll take stock again."

For an endless couple of seconds, Jaune looked like he was ready to argue the new leadership situation. Secretly, Ruby hoped he would but he dropped his gaze and nodded.

"That makes sense," he conceded, the tone of defeat making Ruby's heart drop again. "I'll just...practice a bit before taking my watch."

"Don't wander off," Ruby told him. "If any grimm are left in the region, they're going to be coming here."

"I know," he whispered. "There's a fenced in lot just behind the barn. I'll go there. Trust me, if any grim show up, I'll scream loud enough to wake up everyone."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Ren told him, collecting his friend's empty cup and patting him on the shoulder.

Ruby followed suit, hoping her gesture would be more of a real comfort than that of a little girl trying to mimic an adult. It wasn't until she and Ren entered the cottage that, despite the seriousness of the situation, she realized that she had just touched a...shirtless boy. Fortunately, the dim candlelight was certain to hide any blush. It was crowded in the common room but she and Ren leaned up against a wall, and each other. Somehow, this made Ruby feel more like a teammate; she wasn't leaning on Ren, they were supporting each other. That made her feel much better, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. She closed her eyes and tried to relax a little.

Her next memory was her scroll going off, informing her that it was her turn on watch.

She climbed to her feet, noting that Elg's wife...no, widow...and their children were somehow asleep, all holding each other. Ron was seated against the wall across from the team. She noticed that Nora was leaned up against Ren's other side. Smiling at how they were always looking out for each other, even while asleep, Ruby tiptoed out of the common room, through the kitchen and outside. Rather than jump to the roof and risk waking those inside, she found a ladder leaned against the building and climbed slowly up. Jaune was standing at the peak, now fully dressed and armored.

"Hey," he greeted her.

"Hey," she replied. "Anything interesting happen?"

"I spotted some coyotes, or maybe even wolves, visiting the little gully where we dragged the bandits," he told her.

"Anything else?"

"No sudden silences during the night and no grimm," he said. "Maybe we actually eliminated the last of the grimm and the bandits."

"Did you manage to sleep at all?" She asked.

"No," he shook his head. "I tried, but..."

"Go try some more," she told him. "I've got next watch."

"If I can't sleep anyway..."

"Jaune," she interrupted. "We need your mind working. Go down and sit with Ren and Nora, you might be surprised by how much being with friends can settle your nerves."

Jaune watched her for a moment before nodding.

Much as Jaune described his watch, it was a peaceful time for Ruby. The moon slowly slid further to the west without incident. Eventually, false dawn colored the eastern sky, prompting Mr. Besk and, to Ruby's surprise, Hjort Gevir, to emerge from the cottage. The old man and the boy gave her a polite nod before tending to the endless chores that faced farmers every day. The Gevirs had brought some chickens and a goat along with them when they fled their home, and Ruby was heartened to note that the two tended to all of the livestock with no apparent concern over which animal belonged to whom.

Soon, Jaune and Ron emerged from the cottage. Much as the previous two, her friend and the newcomer offered her a polite nod. Rather than tending to livestock, these two went to the prisoner, untied him from the stake, marched him to the outhouse and stood guard outside while he conducted his business. Once he was finished, they returned him to the stake and began to speak to him, their voices too low for Ruby to hear. Increased smoke poured from the chimney next to the teen watcher, telling her that the household was waking up. Moments later, the elderly woman left the cottage and carried a pail to the barn, pointing the daughter from the Gevir farm toward the chicken coop while the mother from the Gevir farm went through their belongings on the cart. Ruby decided that she was going to have to learn some more names.

The women, young and old, returned to the cottage before false dawn gave way to the last bit of night. One carried a basket, one a pail and another items from the wagon. As the sun came up, Nora came out of the cottage. Even carrying a full plate and a steaming cup, she was able to walk up the ladder and onto the roof.

"My turn," the orange-haired girl informed her. "I can watch while eating. Go on down and get some breakfast."

A rumble in her stomach reminded Ruby just how long it had been since she had eaten. Giving her friend a friendly pat, she scampered down to the ground, not bothering to maintain her dignity when food was involved. To her surprise, she found Ren and Ron operating the kitchen while everyone else was eating.

"It isn't fancy fare," Ren told her, ladling up porridge, but it's filling and hunger is always the best seasoning."

"Don't let him fool you," Ron told her, scooping some scrambled eggs onto her plate. "Between what our hosts provided and what we had, we've made a pretty good meal." He emphasized his statement by dropping a very small loaf of bread onto her plate, as well.

Ruby was about to protest that she couldn't possibly eat all of this but her stomach grumbled again, prompting her to give it a try. She barely noticed when Mr. Besk and Hjort returned. It was crowded in both kitchen and common room, but everyone was focused on their meals. To her surprise, she managed to eat everything and only restrained herself from checking to see if there was any more because she didn't want to be overstuffed. Jaune was washing dishes, so Ruby decided that being a huntress and a team leader didn't excuse her from drying. With everyone chipping in to help, it was soon time to make some difficult decisions. Mr. Besk asked to speak with the team, in the farmyard.

"I think we're safe here, now," Mr. Besk told them. "You have eliminated the grimm and the bandits. I have spoken with Hind. She and her children will stay with us for a few days." Ruby assumed that Hind was the mother from the Gevir farm.

"I have said some very cruel and foolish things about my neighbors," the old man continued. "The least I can do is to offer shelter when they need it. Here, they'll be close enough that the lad and I can bring in their harvest, as well as mine." He actually smiled. "It will be nice to have young people here, for a time at least."

"Sir?" Ruby asked him. "They lost their father and you were beaten up. Are you sure you don't want us to take you somewhere else? Maybe to your wife's sister's place? There are more people there."

"Young Miss," he interrupted her. "Have you ever turned a hog into sausage?" He started to describe the process, something that had the team turning green.

"I've done it," he told her, once he realized that he had made his point. "Hjort has helped his parents do it as well. Farm folk might not be fighters, but we've gone through rough times. We're tired and scared now, but we'll recover. I only wished that I had been a better neighbor, all along."

"We took the weapons from the bandits," Ruby offered. "If you want to keep them..."

"I wouldn't know how to use a spear or a sword," he shook his head. "We're not fighters, but I've used an ax and a threshing flail for longer than you've been alive. If it comes to it, I'll be better with them. The lad's the same way. You saved us, we'll be able to put our lives together again."

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, as a potential problem had just taken care of itself. She looked at her team; everyone was subdued and Jaune was still pale and shaken, but everyone was able to function. With nothing else to do, they said their farewells to the civilians and started what promised to be a very long day.

The first stop was the bandits' camp. The prisoner led them to the location, carefully concealed in a draw. Once there, Jaune gave the man a small loaf of bread, his payment for bringing them here, before the team set to searching the site. They found some small valuables and additional weapons, as well as the spots where five people had slept. Ruby nodded in grim satisfaction; all of the bandits were accounted for. They packed up what they could carry, giving the majority to their prisoner to haul, and set their course for the village. Ron kept watch on the prisoner, his eyes and expression very hard. As they marched, Ruby fell into step with the newcomer and directed him to lag behind the captive a bit, so they could talk.

"Why is it in this world where dark creatures exist and kill people, some folks still want to prey on their fellow man?" He asked her.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Is it this bad on your world?"

"Worse," he admitted. "We don't have grimm, but we have wars over resources, oppression due to race, religion, culture...you name it."

For several minutes, the two continued to walk before Ron collected his thoughts enough to continue. "I have to get back," he finally told Ruby. "I've been here for days and I'm no closer to getting back than the night I showed up! When will we be heading to this place...Haven?"

"It all depends on my uncle," she told him.

"I might not be able to wait," he told her. "If you can give me a map, I'll head off on my own."

"That's not a good idea," she told him, grabbing his wounded arm for emphasis. "Your aura is still dormant and even if we could awaken it, it takes time to learn to use aura and semblance. Until then, it's too dangerous for you to travel by yourself!"

"I can handle myself!" He glared at her.

"You handled that beringal," she countered. "But you wouldn't have been able to deal with the rest of the pack. You need us!"

She saw his crestfallen look.

"And you're a solid addition to our team," she hastily added. "Let's find out how my uncle is doing, then we can make some more decisions."

"I can't wait forever," he chocked back a sob. "What is she going through? What are my parents going through? Everyone I care about doesn't know if I'm alive or dead, well or in trouble. Are they trying to get to me, even as we speak? Did she even make it out of Dementor's lair?"

"We'll get you to people who can help," Ruby insisted. "But we can't just jump, do something and hope it all works out!" She paused for a moment. "Did _I_ actually just say that?"

Fortunately the argument seemed to satisfy Ron, and her last question brought a ghost of a smile to his face. She left him and Jaune to keep an eye on the prisoner while she took the lead on the way back to the village. It was a very long walk, because they still stopped and asked everyone they met if they had spotted grimm or bandits. It was well after sundown by the time they reached their goal.

The doctor had long since closed his shop and Ruby wasn't so desperate to see her uncle that she was about to break into the infirmary. Instead, they left their prisoner and the items they had recovered with the town watch before stumbling, exhausted, to the inn. The innkeeper's son was awake, allowing them in to their room. Not even bothering with a meal, they were quickly asleep.

Jaune's scream woke them up a little after dawn.

A scream in a room full of hunters has a predictable effect; Ruby, Ren, Nora and Ron were all on their feet and brandishing weapons within moments, only to see Jaune, drenched with sweat, thrashing in his sleeping bag. Ruby was the first to act, using Crescent Rose's handle to prod him. Before he was fully awake he seized the handle, making Ruby realize that her friend was now surprisingly strong.

"Were you fighting the bandits again?" Ren asked him.

"The girl," Jaune answered.

"A bandit," Ren insisted. "She was trying to kill you with a spear. You didn't do anything wrong."

"But, she was just a kid," Jaune grimaced.

"No younger than us," Nora pointed out, the usually bubbly girl showing a surprising amount of empathy.

Team RNJR gathered around him, talking about the incident and showing their support. Each of them spoke about their individual fight and how it affected them. Ruby realized that cutting off her opponents hand, so similar to what Adam Taurus had done to her sister, had stuck in her mind. Ruby barely listened to Ren and Nora, after hearing Jaune speak his part. She hadn't realized how much the bandit's death would affect a young man who had seven sisters.

As much as the talk was awkward, it helped. The topic then turned to what next.

"We need to meet with the headman," Nora declared. "But I think we need to clean up and look like a competent hunter team when we do. We should also get something to eat. Fainting from hunger will look very unprofessional."

The rest of the team agreed. It wasn't until they were cleaned and dressed that they realized something was missing.

"Where did Ron get to?" Ruby demanded. The rest of the team realized that he had vanished shortly after they started to have their long talk.

Storming down the stairs to the inn's common room, they suddenly found him again. Ron Stoppable had taken over the inn's kitchen and was making some odd form of breakfast.

"I can't believe this world," the newcomer declared, setting a mixture of eggs and peppers onto some form of flatbread and carefully folding the meal. "Nobody had even heard of a breakfast burrito! I'm not one to judge but, seriously, I can't just let this world be denied such a basic slice of my culture!"

Ron took the food to a window and handed it to a waiting tradesman, who handed the innkeeper's son a couple of lien. Ruby noted that there was a line outside.

"I also had to introduce the take-out lane," Ron explained. "Hard working people can have their food to-go and the inn makes some money off of non-guests. Everyone wins."

Team RNJR had no idea what a breakfast burrito tasted like, but the smells coming from Ron's work convinced them to give them a try. Soon, they were seated in the inn's common room, each with two of the strange but tasty concoctions in front of them. Team RNJR declared them excellent and even Nora declared that while she would insist on pancakes tomorrow, breakfast burritos made an acceptable change of pace. She then filched a third one.

Ruby and her teammates left Ron in the kitchen, explaining something called salsa to the inn's regular cook, and went to visit the headman. Apparently the night watchman had spread some stories, because the team was treated like celebrities, being ushered into the headman's office immediately to meet with the village leader and...

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shrieked in delight. The younger teen embraced the hunter, delighted that he was out of bed.

"Hey pipsqueak," he murmured in return. Although his voice wasn't strong, it was nowhere near as weak as it had been before the patrol. The hand that ruffled her hair was not as firm as the one in her memory, but the fact that he had lifted it to her head spoke volumes to her. He hadn't risen from his chair but at least he was sitting upright.

"May I introduce you, once again to Mr. Seriffi Valvoa?" The headman interrupted the reunion. "He is the head of the village watch and corresponds regularly with his counterparts in other villages."

"You have done us a great service," the burly man offered a polite bow.

"It was just our job," Ruby told him.

He looked confused, first staring at Ruby and then at Jaune.

"We had an incident during this patrol that has left our leader emotionally shaken," Ren explained. "Ruby has taken on his duties until such time that Jaune is prepared to lead again."

"I don't understand this great service," Ruby admitted. "Our agreement was to eliminate the grimm in the area."

"But you also eliminated bandits," the watchman told her. "And may have saved this village."

"We've been working while you kids were sleeping in," Qrow added. "We've been going over the bandits gear you brought back, the masks, weapons, and other things. We've been talking to the prisoner as well. Now, we want you to tell us everything about that encounter."

Ruby did so, describing the patrol, the fight at the Gevir farm and then the bandits at the Besk Farm. Nora and Ren occasionally added details but Jaune remained silent. When Ruby got to the part about the last bandit attacking out of the night, he stared at his feet.

"That's the extra service you gave us," Seriffi told them. "By eliminating that group, you may have saved us all."

"I have some experience dealing with these bandits," Qrow added, seeing the team's confused looks. "They send out scouts to find easy pickings. If that bunch had returned and told their chief that they were able to raid farms at will, the whole tribe would have been here in a few weeks. When the scouts don't come back, the tribe knows where not to go."

"So, we've just sent them somewhere else," Jaune said.

"You can only defend where you're at," Qrow told him. "Your responsibility is this village."

"At the expense of someone else," Jaune concluded.

"Not necessarily," Qrow countered, then nodded to the watchman.

"Scroll signals don't work out here with Beacon Tower down." The main explained. "And we aren't living in the kingdoms, so we don't have modern vehicles, but we have some decent horses and good riders. I'll send a few out yet today. With any luck, they'll get through to other villages and spread the warning. A village that's ready won't be an inviting target."

"I know it's not a perfect answer, kid," Qrow addressed Jaune. "But it's giving them a fair chance."

"Yeah," Jaune's heart was clearly not behind his words.

"Anyway, you've done a good job," Qrow told them. "That means that it's time to move on."

"Uncle Qrow, you're not ready," Ruby protested.

"When you're a hunter, you have to deal with the situation, not wait for a perfect time." He countered. "There are no bandits or grimm in the region now. Take today and tomorrow to rest up and prepare; maybe even have a little fun. After that, it's time to quit stressing these folks' hospitality. Take to the road and go find some more trouble to fight."

"But you're not well yet!" Ruby was almost crying.

"I'm well enough to walk," he told her. "And I'm getting better. Day after tomorrow, I'll be able to travel."

"But..."

"I know what I'm talking about," he assured her. "Now, you're going to have to make some decisions but I want the four of you to spend today unwinding and relaxing."

"What about you?" Ruby demanded.

"There's a quiet little clearing about a half-mile from town," he answered. "Just right for an anti-social type like me to get a little rest. I'll be out there if you need me, far from anyone."

Ruby understood his meaning.

"So, what are the bunch of you planning for today?" He asked.

"I'm dragging her to the blacksmith," Nora interrupted. "She's been making moon eyes over that multi-tool that she wheedled out of Ron for long enough, it's time for her to get one of her own."

"I didn't wheedle it from him!" Ruby protested.

"Be honest!" The orange-haired girl rolled her eyes in mock irritation. "An adorable youngster like you pouts out that lower lip and you knew he'd hand it to you." Nora shook her head. "I wonder what he meant by the puppy dog pout being the same on this world, as well?"

"Take the bandits' weapons with you," Qrow told them. "They're made of good steel so you'll be able to make a trade. What about after the blacksmith?"

"I'm not letting her get away," Nora assured him. "We're each going to get a set of clothing to wear while in town and safe. After that, all of us are going to get our normal clothing cleaned, then we're going to figure out where we're going next and what we need to get there."

"Hey!" Ruby protested. "I'm the team leader! What if I don't want other clothes?"

"You are the leader while we're acting as hunters," Ren pointed out. "You have absolutely no skill when it comes to relaxing. Nora and I are going to show you and Jaune how to wind down."

"Me?" Jaune demanded.

"Especially you!" Nora snapped at him. "You're going to get some of those bruises healed up in the next couple of days and you're going to have some fun! We're going to dance at the inn tonight and you're going to enjoy yourself...or else!"

Both Jaune and Ruby gave Qrow a pleading look.

"Don't look at me!" He held up his hands in mock helplessness. "They're your teammates and they've pretty much taken over. Besides, I think they're right."

The trip to the blacksmith was almost a dream come true for Ruby; the blacksmith was impressed with the multi-tool, most of the tools Ruby wanted in it were standard and he also wondered why nobody had thought of making such a thing. When it came time to discuss the price, Nora brought out the weapons they had taken from the bandits and cut a very good deal for the tool. Then things took a decidedly downward turn.

Nora was sneaky, she had a vice-like grip on the younger girl before Ruby realized how vile the bubbly girl's plans were. Before she could resist, Nora had wrestled her into...the seamstress's shop.

No amount of pleading or pouting did any good. Ruby was subjected to a measuring and appraisal by a middle-aged woman so kindly that the petite teen found herself holding in her temper. She did, however, grind her teeth in frustration when Nora went through the same procedure and actually seemed to enjoy the experience. Ruby did put her foot down, literally, when the subject of shoes came up. There was no way that she was going to wear heels and Nora relented with very little protest. By the time noon arrived, the two female members of Team RNJR were clad in comfortable, casual clothing and back at the inn.

"The inn offers a laundry service," Nora explained. "Our usual clothing is getting kind of ripe, so we'll get it cleaned while we go about our business."

Much to her dismay, Ruby found that the clean clothing made her feel much better, even though she insisted on wearing her hood and carrying Crescent Rose with her. The inn's common room was very crowded for lunch. It seemed that Ron was still in the kitchen, thoroughly enjoying himself and stunning the innkeeper with the influx of customers. Fortunately for the Ruby and Nora, the team's celebrity status gave them a fairly large table, where they could pull out some maps and discuss the next move. Ren and Jaune joined up with them before they could be served.

"Wow, the two of you look great!" Jaune commented, as the two young men took their seats.

"Oh, don't we always?" Nora mock-growled at the blonde. For some reason, Ruby blushed just a little and studied her team's male contingent, rather than joining the verbal duel.

Ren looked much the way he always did; his new clothing looked like how he dressed the day he arrived at Beacon, although his colors were now black and silver. He wore a small smile as he listened to Nora bait Jaune into admitting that he thought both she and Ruby were pretty, then accused the flustered blonde of only appreciating them for their looks. Jaune was now dressed in nice jeans and a blue shirt with half sleeves.

"You look really nice," Ruby told Jaune, interrupting Nora's tirade that the blonde somehow didn't appreciate how pretty she and Ruby were. Suddenly, Jaune, Ren and Nora were all looking at the youngest member of the team.

"Thanks," Jaune finally said, after Ruby began to feel very uncomfortable. "But I should be wearing my armor, getting used to the weight."

"You can take the occasional break," Ren corrected him. "Just like your constant training, there's such a thing as too much. You have to let your body recover."

"Okay, but where do we go from here?" Jaune asked. "What's our next step, on to Haven?"

"I think we have to make a detour," Ren pointed at the map that Nora had unrolled. "If Qrow's hints are correct, and some great enemy has her eye on Haven, it will only get more dangerous as we get closer. Qrow is in no condition to fight and Ron's aura is still dormant, we can't take them into greater danger."

"We could awaken Ron's aura, then the five of us could protect Uncle Qrow," Ruby protested.

"Do you know how to awaken an aura?" Nora asked.

"Well, I've seen it done several times," Ruby told her.

"I didn't think so," Ren offered her a nod. "It takes some skill and training. I'm sure that as an instructor, Qrow knows how, but he's very weak."

"What are you getting at?" Ruby demanded, not liking where this conversation was going.

"We don't go east, towards Mistral," Ren suggested. "We go south, towards the river. There is a fishing village that this village trades with. We get to this village and book passage to Vale for Qrow and Ron."

"Do you really think this small village will have a ship heading that way?" Ruby challenged him.

"I doubt that it will," Ren replied, his voice calm. "But this village imports goods from larger towns. We can arrange for the two to be taken to one of these larger towns and from there, they can catch a ship to Vale."

"If it's so safe, why didn't we just take a ship when we came here?" Ruby argued.

"Because we didn't have the lien to pay for passage," Nora pointed out. "Qrow didn't suggest it, or give you the money, because it was safe, you wouldn't have drawn out the attacker."

"Qrow wouldn't use me as bait!" Ruby argued. "He's my uncle!"

"He also serves a greater purpose," Jaune pointed out. "Yes, he loves you enough to trail us across two continents, intercepting grimm and jumping into the fight against Tyrian. But that didn't stop him from putting you in danger in the first place."

"He didn't!" Ruby jumped to her feet. "I decided to make the journey! I asked the three of you and you agreed."

"How did you know to travel to Mistral?" Ren asked.

"That's where the clues led." Ruby answered.

"And who told you about the clues?" Jaune asked her.

"Uncle Qrow," Ruby's eyes flew wide after she answered. "But he was drinking! He didn't realize that I would..."

"I suspect that he has not mistakenly let information slip for many years," Ren told her. "Drunk or sober. In addition, when you told us of your conversation, you said that he asked your father to leave your room before speaking to you."

Ruby's hand drifted to her mouth as a realization came upon her.

"Your uncle loves you," Jaune told her. "I have no doubt about that. He loves you enough to put you in danger in order to save the world for you to live in."

"Okay, that doesn't even make sense...maybe." Ruby protested.

"It still leaves us trying to make our decision," Jaune kept the discussion on the matter at hand. "Ocean travel is faster and safer than going overland between the kingdoms. Qrow is unable to fight and Ron is terribly vulnerable. I say the best way is to get the two of them on a ship to Vale, where they will be safe."

"I agree," Ren added.

"Me too," Nora chimed in.

"I'm outvoted," Ruby grumbled.

"What would you do?" Jaune asked.

"I have no idea," she admitted. "I wish I could come up with a better one than this."

"So you agree with us?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah," Ruby sighed. "I think I'm going to have a long talk with Uncle Qrow."

"Tomorrow," Nora told her. "Today, we get ready for the trip and have a little fun."

Nora was interrupted by Ron, who showed up with a serving girl, both laden with plates of strange but good smelling food. Discussions were put on hold while the team ate. After the meal, Ruby and Nora spoke to Ron while Ren took care of purchases for the trip. The newcomer wasn't very happy about being diverted, but Nora was very firm in telling him that if he got killed on the way, he would definitely not be able to get back home. After the orange-haired girl told him that Vale was closer to Atlas, and the world's most advanced technology, he relented.

Ruby and Nora spent the rest of the afternoon maintaining their weapons, taking care of their other gear and, once Ren returned, packing and dividing his purchases, preparing to travel again. Shortly before dinner time, Jaune showed up, looking somewhat flushed.

"I thought we said no sparring," Ruby told him, fixing him with a glare.

"I wasn't," the blonde told her. "I went to the clearing where your uncle is staying. He had me running through the forest, bouncing between trees, stuff he says will help my agility and hone my aura."

"You're pushing yourself too hard," Ruby told him. "You have to let your body recover from the beating you're taking."

"I didn't take a beating," he protested. "I just worked out a little."

"I doubt that an experienced instructor, such as your uncle, would allow him to work so hard that it became harmful," Ren gently interjected.

"Okay, but we're supposed to be a team," Ruby argued. "Jaune, the next time, let us know what you're doing. I know you're pushing yourself, let us help you."

"Look what happened to the last person who helped me," Jaune grumbled.

"That had nothing to do with it!" Nora growled at him. "Like it or not, we're your teammates and we're your friends! We aren't about to let you do this by yourself!"

"I just don't want to be a bother," Jaune's shoulders slumped.

"Assisting one so determined to become something more is hardly a bother," Ren put a brotherly hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Now, let's get ready for dinner. Ron's been working in the kitchen all day, so it's probably going to be unusual but good."

"And afterwards, music and dancing!" Nora trilled.

"Wait, what about my uncle?" Ruby demanded. "He needs food."

"He said he'd come by at nightfall," Jaune told her. "He wants to let most of the crowd leave before he shows up."

The team nodded at the wisdom their elder showed.

The inn's common room was again crowded, as word had gotten around that a stranger was doing some inventive cooking. Much to the team's embarrassment, the innkeeper kept a table free just for them. The four enjoyed their meal, having their first encounter with...smothered enchiladas...before leaving the table and finding seats around an open area. They chatted with the local tradesmen and other townsfolk who were arriving to socialize, maybe tip back a mug or two and perhaps join in some singing and dancing. Nora became noticeably excited when a few townsfolk produced instruments and started to discuss the songs they would play. After the impromptu band played a few 'sing along' type of songs for the crowd, they started a lively dance number. Nora practically herded the rest of her team onto the floor.

Team RNJR performed the same synchronized number that team JNPR had done at the Beacon Dance. Since Nora had gone over the moves with her earlier that day, Ruby wasn't too far off. The gathered townsfolk cheered and while Jaune seemed a little sad while dancing, he seemed to enjoy himself. Ruby was very glad that she had insisted on no heels for her new shoes and blushed when they came to the part when she and Jaune partnered and danced with each other, including the dip. Even though she enjoyed the dance, she was happy to get off of the dance floor. Like she told Headmaster Ozpin, she wasn't much of a dancy sort of girl.

Nora kept Ren on the floor for a few more songs while Ruby surveyed the room. She saw Ron actually smiling from the kitchen, happy to see how his food had been received and apparently charmed by people socializing. She saw several teenage girls in a group, giving Jaune some coy looks between gossip and giggles. She also saw a few village boys looking at her, probably trying to get their courage up to ask the huntress to dance. Ruby honestly didn't know if she wanted one of them to ask her. Finally, a stocky boy of about her age stepped through his fellows and approached her.

"Excuse me, Miss Huntress," he offered a slight bow. "I'm the apprentice to the blacksmith and he asked me to give you these."

The boy handed her first Ron's multi-tool and then the one that Ruby had commissioned him to build.

"It's perfect!" She shrieked, lovingly opening each and every one of the tools within. "You really must have worked hard to build it in one day!"

"My master wanted you to have tomorrow to work with it and make sure it was what you wanted." the lad shrugged. "I assembled it, so if it falls apart on you, it's my fault."

"I don't think it will," Ruby was testing the device and it felt really solid. "I really appreciate you working so hard and so fast to make this. I owe you."

"Perhaps you would dance with me, then we can call it even," he suggested, nervously.

To her surprise, Ruby found that she didn't mind the idea of dancing; the music wasn't as formal as at the Beacon Dance, and she had pretty much memorized the steps. Nora gave her a huge smile as she accompanied the young man onto the floor. Although he didn't have a hunter's agility, he was familiar with the steps and he wasn't clumsy. They were one of many couples dancing at the time, so Ruby wasn't even embarrassed.

"Thank you," the boy showed his appreciation for the dance as they left the floor. "You have done this town a great service. Although you may never pass this way again, I hope that the tool we made for you serves you for many years."

"Wait," Ruby caught his arm before he could leave. "What is your name?"

"Sterk."

"Well, Sterk, the honor is mine," she told him. "Thank you and please pass my thanks on to your master, as well. By the way, if we ever see each other again, my name is Ruby."

The boy was actually blushing as he left.

Nora promptly caught Jaune by the arm and dragged him to the small group of girls and demanded to know if any of them wanted to dance with the blonde. The girls promptly broke into giggles so Nora grabbed one of them at random and hauled both her teammate and the girl onto the floor. Once they started to dance, it was obvious that the girl was perfectly happy to be dancing with Jaune. Ruby giggled at first, then smiled as Jaune relaxed and started to dance with the grace of a young man who grew up with seven sisters. The blonde actually relaxed to the point that he asked his partner if she would like the next dance, as well. The girl blushed brightly, but agreed. When they finished that dance, she shyly took his arm and leaned her head onto his shoulder as they left the floor, murmuring something to the young man. Suddenly, Jaune looked horrified.

Ruby's mouth dropped open as Jaune roughly disentangled himself from the confused village girl. Ruby jumped to her feet but there was enough of a crowd that she couldn't get to the couple very quickly...at least not without blowing through the crowd and potentially injuring people. She saw that Jaune was stammering some sort of apology while backing away from the girl. He then turned and fled. The girl was shook up by the time Ruby reached her.

"Go find Jaune," Nora told Ruby. The hammer-wielder and her partner had appeared almost out of midair. "Ren and I will talk to the girl."

Ruby nodded and left in pursuit of the blonde. She had last seen him heading towards the hallway that led to both the stairs to their room and to the back door. Playing a hunch, she chose the back door and looked around. Sure enough, she saw a lone figure across the kitchen yard, leaned on a fence and staring off into the night.

"Hey, Jaune," she murmured as she approached. Again, she flinched inside at her choice of words. "You left pretty fast and upset a local girl."

"I tried to tell her I was sorry," he rasped in reply. Ruby could tell he was pretty shook up about something.

"Did she say something that upset you?" Ruby asked him.

"No...just..." he stammered. Ruby patiently waited for him to put his thoughts together.

"Is this a huntsman's life?" He suddenly asked. "We lost...someone very special...a couple of months ago. I killed a girl the other night. Now what am I doing? I'm flirting with a local girl. Is this normal now?"

"It is if you're going to stay sane," another voice answered.

Ruby and Jaune both looked up and saw Qrow Branwen approaching on slow feet from across the kitchen yard.

"I was having my dinner at the kitchen door," he explained. "Kind of keeping away from people, when I saw the blond boy here heading off like a creeper was chasing him. Since there hadn't been a commotion in the common room, I figured someone was having a little trouble adapting to the huntsman's life. What happened?"

Jaune seemed unwilling to speak until Qrow closed the distance and leaned on the fence. Then, he told the other two about Nora making him dance with a random, local girl and how he enjoyed doing so, even asking her to dance a second song.

"We were walking off of the floor," he explained. "She asked me about the academy and then asked if I wanted to get away from the crowd so I could tell her about life in Haven."

Ruby didn't see the issue, but Qrow smirked.

"You have, what, four sisters?" The older man asked the younger.

"Seven," Jaune corrected him.

"And at least a couple of them are older than you, aren't they?" Qrow grinned in understanding.

"Yeah," Jaune looked off into the night again.

"I'm not understanding," Ruby admitted.

"That girl was probably interested in life beyond her village," Qrow told her. "But she really wanted to get your friend here off alone for a little bit. He knows, because he's probably heard his sisters talk about these things."

Ruby's eyes flew wide. "Oooohh," she gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth.

"Settle down, pipsqueak," Qrow chuckled. "It wouldn't have gone all that far. Your friend's morals haven't been eroded enough for that. Still, he would have probably learned a few things and those kind of lessons can be pretty pleasant. I wonder why he chose to skip the class."

"That girl I killed," Jaune answered. "She wasn't any older than the girl I was dancing with."

"But you weren't dancing with the girl you killed," Qrow countered. "You were dancing with a girl who's probably never done anyone any real harm in her whole life."

"But I killed someone just the other day!"

"You all did," Qrow nodded. "It bothers you all and it should. Whenever you have the choice to kill someone or not, remember how you're feeling right now."

"But the bandit..." Jaune protested.

"Was coming at you with a spear," Qrow finished for him. "The others were roughing up an old couple, probably before killing them. None of you had any choice in what you did. You did what you had to and you're tore up about it. That sucks but it's how things have to be if you're not going to become a raging psychopath. Killing someone should never be without a cost."

"That's a pretty cheap cost, if I'm dancing with a pretty girl two days later," Jaune grumbled.

"Not dancing with that girl doesn't bring the bandit back," Qrow argued. "Not dancing with that girl doesn't bring that redheaded girl...Pyrrha...back either. Kid, you're still alive and that means doing the things that people who are alive do. That means enjoying a dance with a pretty girl. It means trying new food like smothered enchiladas. It means putting on civilian clothing and taking some time off now and then."

"Does it mean hitting the bottle?" Ruby asked.

"That's something _**you're**_ not gonna do while you're in arm's reach of me!" He informed his niece. "What I'm trying to say is if you turn your back on any sort of enjoyment, you're going to become awful bitter before you have to shave more than once a week."

"It still doesn't feel right," Jaune grumbled.

"Then don't do it, yet." Qrow shrugged. "Just keep in mind that you're not betraying anyone by living."

"I guess I better go back and give someone a full apology," Jaune told his companions. "She deserves it and it will make it easier to deal with the locals."

"And maybe dance with her again?" Ruby asked, smirking at him.

"Just dancing," he was very firm with the statement. Then he sighed, "I just..."

"I know," Ruby placed a hand on his arm. "Wanna spar in the village square tomorrow? Put on a show for the townsfolk before we leave?"

"That's a good idea," Qrow nodded at the two of them. "Day after tomorrow, we're gonna want to be on the road before the sun comes up. Give the folks here good memories of the huntsmen. It'll make it easier for the next team that passes through."

Ruby followed Jaune back towards the inn, wondering how Qrow would take being informed that he wasn't going to accompany them towards Haven when they left.

* * *

 _Again, my thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and leave a comment. Special thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	5. Chapter 5

"Uncle Qrow, why didn't the bandits have their auras awakened?"

Qrow Branwen managed to pull himself out of his funk to consider the question. He didn't like the fact that they were heading to a river port village rather than towards Haven. He didn't like that the kids had made the decision without telling him about it. He didn't like that he was too weak to walk very far so he was in the back of a grain wagon. He didn't like that they were going to put him on a boat towards safety while they were marching into greater danger.

What he _really_ didn't like was that he couldn't argue with their logic.

At least the kids were all walking while he was riding; that should mean that they wouldn't have the wind to question him for the whole day.

"Awakening an aura takes a great deal of effort," he finally answered. "There's also a side effect to it."

"Side effect?"

Qrow noticed that the other teens were suddenly paying attention to him, as well.

"Nothing that needs to concern you, at least not for a few more years," he told his niece.

"But isn't it worth the effort if the scouts would be tougher?" Ruby asked.

"So that's what this is about," Qrow nodded, grimly. "You want to know why the bandits sent an unprepared party out to scout."

"Well...maybe," she admitted. "You did say that you've dealt with these bandits before."

"I was raised by them," he admitted, deciding to get the truth out. He noted that Ren and Nora gave him a hard look.

"It wasn't my idea," he told the team. "I don't know if I was born into the tribe or if they carried me off as a prize when I was a baby. Anyway, I left them because I didn't believe that it was the duty and the right of the strong to prey on the weak."

"Back to the question at hand," Jaune insisted. "Why didn't the scouts have awakened auras?"

"I'm kind of guessing here," he told them. "Things might have changed, but a bandit tribe is not like a hunter team or even the Atlesian Military. The strong rule over the weak and the leaders don't like being challenged. The leaders are only going to allow some trusted few to get their auras activated; it cuts down on the revolutions within the group."

"Then how did you get your aura awakened?" Ruby asked him.

"When Raven and I turned thirteen, we didn't think our chief could do anything wrong," Qrow told her. "He realized how loyal we were and thought it would be a good idea to give us the best education available. He got us into a combat academy here in Anima. The instructors woke our auras."

"So how did you wind up in Beacon?" Ruby prompted him.

"The chief made sure we realized how much the tribe sacrificed to give us our opportunity at the combat academy, so the two of us worked really hard." Qrow's eyes grew unfocused as he remembered old times. "We graduated top of our class and actually had the choice of any of the four Hunter Academies. Raven wanted to go to Haven and stay close to the tribe but I wanted to see a little of the world. I didn't like the idea of spending four years either in a desert or on tundra, so Shade and Atlas were out. Raven decided to come with me to Beacon."

"Why did you leave the tribe?" Ruby persisted.

"You can lay that decision on Ozpin, your dad and your mom," Qrow shook his head. "Ozpin drilled the notion that just being a good fighter didn't entitle us to anything into our heads. Your mom and dad were all about helping people. When Raven and I got teamed up with the two of them, we saw for ourselves that kind people could also be tough. Raven though...well...she never got over her ruthless streak."

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby was now tentative with her question. "I know that you and dad don't like each other all that much. What happened between the two of you?"

"That's going to be a story for when you're older," Qrow sighed. "Or when I haven't been on five days of enforced sobriety...preferably both."

"Can't you tell me anything?"

Qrow sat for several minutes, watching the world slowly pass under the wagon's wheels before he answered.

"You're father's a very good man," he finally told his niece. "I don't like the man...I love him. That's the thing about family, you can love them even when you don't really see eye to eye. He tries to make the world a better place by coming up with this good scenario and trying to force the world to fit it. I think I'm a little more realistic; I try to tweak the bad parts where I can. At the end of the day, he isn't willing to see the people he loves put into danger while I understand we're all really pawns of some sort."

"So you did trick me!" She accused him. "You fed me hints that answers would be found in Haven!"

"Yeah," he answered with a weary sigh. "And I tricked him. I led him to believe that you wouldn't leave until Yang had gotten over her issues enough to be left alone and he'd be able to travel with you. That...wouldn't have worked."

"Why not?" Ruby was clearly confused.

"Another thing that I can't discuss right now," he insisted. "But getting back to why we don't get along, we look at the world very differently. We can work together, even spend time together, but I don't think we'll ever really like each other like we used to."

"So you got along together, back at Beacon?"

"We drove the faculty insane!" Now, Qrow Branwen shrugged off his sorrow and smiled broadly. "When we weren't pulling pranks on other teams, we were pranking each other!"

"Dad doesn't seem to be the pranking type," Ruby protested.

"You didn't know him in his younger years," Qrow snorted. "He actually convinced me that the school uniform consisted of a kilt, so I showed up for my first class wearing a skirt!"

Suddenly, Qrow's eyes flew wide. "Dammit! Enough getting me to talk when I'm sober! I say things that I shouldn't when I haven't been drinking!"

"You showed up at an official Beacon function...wearing a skirt?" Ruby struggled to keep from laughing.

"Well, that's something you have in common with Jaune!" Nora chuckled.

"What?" Qrow now looked at the blonde young man.

"I did not wear a skirt!" Jaune countered, all injured dignity. "It was a dress."

"Okay, here's a story I wouldn't mind hearing," Qrow felt a genuine smile on his face for the first time in far too long.

"It was a promise," Jaune told him. "And an Arc never goes back on his word. Still, it was a last moment sort of thing so it was missing something."

"Yeah," Nora snorted. "Breasts."

"No, shoes," Jaune corrected her. "I didn't have proper heels and I wound up wearing my high-tops. It looked ridiculous."

"Indeed," Ren interjected. "Your apparel would have been considerably more dignified with proper footwear."

Qrow performed a face-palm and grumbled something under his breath. Ruby couldn't quite make out what it was, but she was sure she heard the words 'like we were at that age'. He was still not up to his full strength and wound up settling down for a nap with a smile on his face.

The day's travel proved to be uneventful. They hadn't covered a great deal of distance, since they were limited to the speed of the slowest ox team. Three wagons full of grain didn't travel all that fast, so Team RNJR still had plenty of energy when they set up camp, even though they had walked the entire way. Much to Qrow's irritation, Ruby placed herself firmly in between her uncle and the drovers, with their earthenware jug, as the party settled in around the campfire.

"What are you kids planning to do after you put Ron and me on the boat?" The older hunter asked, after grumbling a bit.

"We're going to get back on the trail to Haven," Ruby told him. "But we're going to be careful. From now on, whenever we pass through a town, we're going to tell the locals that we're going a different direction than we really are. That way, if Salem sends someone to track us down again, they'll have a rougher time."

"Good idea," Qrow nodded. "Now, before I forget, hold your scroll up here."

Somewhat bemused, Ruby did as her uncle requested. He tapped the back of his scroll to hers and activated the data transfer.

"Okay," he told her. "I just cross-loaded a code that will get you into the headmaster at Haven. As soon as you get to the campus, activate it at the nearest terminal. Heck, it might even work at a terminal at the border guards' station. As soon as that code hits the academy network, the headmaster will know that you're on Ozpin's business."

"But we don't know anything," Ruby protested.

"I've got journal entries with all of my suspicions and my findings," he told her. "The sensitive ones are coded, just in case you get captured. You're free to look at the other ones while you're on the road, it might make for some interesting and educational reading."

Looking around, he confirmed that nobody was close enough to overhear.

"Look, pipsqueak," he whispered to her. "Don't spend more than a couple of days in any town and don't tell anyone where you're going. You can tell people that you're wandering huntsmen, trading your services for room, board and a few lien, since that's close to the truth. Once you get into the kingdom, you should be okay. Tell any border guards that you're from Beacon and are trying to reach Haven. Keep together and protect each other, the four of you make a solid team."

"But Tyrian was able to..."

"Tyrian was a special case," Qrow interrupted. "I don't know much about Salem, but there's only so many folks around that are as capable as he is. It's going to take time for him to get word back that you're still on the loose. Then, it's going to take even more time for her to get someone else on your trail. Keep moving, lay a false trail like you've planned and you should be in Haven by the time anyone or anything that you can't handle figures out where you are."

"I wish you were still going with us," she told him.

"I wish I could," he admitted. "But your friends are right; Ron and I are liabilities at this moment. I can't walk more than a mile or so and I can't fight. Ron's vulnerable until he gets his aura awakened."

"Can't you do it?"

"Not as weak as I am," he admitted.

"Can you coach one of us?" She suggested. "Pyrrha unlocked Jaune's."

"That probably wasn't a good idea, " he shrugged. "It's sort of complicated, so just trust me on this one, kid."

"Okay, I trust you," Ruby told him. "But you're really starting to stretch that trust."

"I know," he sighed. "It's necessary. Now, since everyone's settled in, why don't you kids let me take part of the watch, nice and far away from everyone?"

The night proved to be uneventful as did traveling most of the next day. Shortly after noon, they encountered a large tree that had fallen across the track. The drovers were prepared and pulled out a saw, but Ron stepped forward. With one bare-handed chop, he snapped the tree at the edge of the track. Four more such blows broke the section on the road into logs that could be removed relatively easily. Team RNJR quickly had the road clear and they were on their way again. Ron accompanied Jaune in the lead. Looking around, Qrow discretely motioned for Ruby to come close.

"The only person I've ever seen throw a bare-handed strike with that much power is your father," he whispered to her. I want you to take your scroll, discretely, and scan him for aura."

"But he doesn't even know what aura is," Ruby protested.

"That's what he says," Qrow answered. "Let's just get a little confirmation."

Qrow had to admit that Ruby was clever; the girl scooped up a water skin from the wagon and carried it forwards to the two blondes. Ron declined the offer but Jaune took a deep drink while the girl palmed her scroll and scanned Ron. She then returned to her uncle.

"Nothing," she reported. "No aura at all."

"Okay, that's interesting," the older man seemed to relish the mystery. "Even your old man needed his aura to hit that hard. This guy may turn out to be a solid ally. If we can combine aura with this...monkey power...he claims to have...give him some proper training...maybe either upgrade that staff of his or get him a proper weapon..."

"What are you getting at?" Ruby asked him.

"If Ron is what he claims to be, he could really be a blue chip, if we recruit him carefully," Qrow told her.

"So should he stay with us?"

"No," Qrow shook his head. "Let's get him to Patch and let him see the family life that he may find himself defending. He's seen the horror show with grimm, let's let him see what we're protecting."

The rest of the day's travel proved uneventful again. While oxen didn't move fast, they were following a fairly straight track and by the time the party found a place to camp for the night, they had left the area Team RNJR had patrolled. After the camp was set, Qrow asked the drovers to keep watch while he addressed the team.

"Ron," he told the outsider. "I overheard you complaining about conditioning drills for something called...what was it...football. Why don't you run the team through one of these, let us all see what it's all about?"

"Are you sure about this?" The blonde asked.

"Positive," Qrow smirked at him. "Let's see what kind of workout they go through on your world."

"Well, the coaches gave us a recording and I have it on my Kimmunicator," Ron sighed. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

Team RNJR expressed their confidence in being ready for anything. Shaking his head, Ron set his electronic device on a handy rock, had the team line up with plenty of space between them, then took his place facing them. With a heavy sigh, he activated the recording.

Soon, Qrow was grinning widely while the younger contingent was sweating and breathing heavily. Under the recorded instructions, they ran in place, dropped to their bellies and jumped back up, did push-ups and sit-ups and other high-speed exercises. While running in place, Ron worked his way among the other four, urging them to greater efforts.

Jaune, wearing his armor, started to falter first, followed soon by Ren. Ruby then started to struggle to keep up but Nora seemed to be honestly enjoying herself. Eventually, Ron started to falter as well. The drill continued and the young fighters struggled to maintain the pace. Still, everyone drove themselves until the recorded instructions announced that they were done. Still smiling broadly, Nora passed out.

"Okay, we still have a bit of daylight," Qrow announced. "I think the drovers and I can keep watch in the daylight while our five athletes here find a clean section of the creek and wash off the sweat."

Lungs heaving, Ron, Jaune, Ren and Ruby managed to haul Nora to portion of a nearby creek that was screened from general view by reeds and bushes. They splashed a little water on her face to wake her up.

"That was great!" She shrieked, quickly sitting up with a huge smile on her face.

"Aren't you tired?" Jaune demanded. "Aren't you going to be sore?"

"Of course!" She cheerfully agreed. "That's what makes it great! Oh, we're at the creek now? Time to clean up? Okay!"

She promptly started to strip off her clothes. Ron, Ren and Jaune beat a hasty retreat in order to give the ladies a little privacy.

By the time the sun went down, the fighters were clean, dinner was just finishing up over the campfire and Qrow offered to take first watch. The older huntsman found a concealed position away from camp, settled himself and concentrated. He really wasn't strong enough to do this but like he had told his niece before, sometimes necessity dictated your actions. Soon, a large, black bird landed on a branch next to his head. The huntsman whispered to the bird, which quickly flew off. Qrow Branwen was pleased that he was able to remain awake after the exertion.

Qrow was also pleased that by the time his niece arrived to take over the watch from him, he was actually able to walk back to the camp. He was even more pleased that everyone had left a very healthy serving of dinner for him to enjoy. He was less pleased to figure out that Ruby must have been talking to Nora. The ginger-haired girl planted herself firmly between him and the drovers and, more to the point, the earthenware jug they were passing among themselves. Damned kids; he decided that Beacon Academy had to start teaching courses on self-medication. Tee-totaling just couldn't be healthy. After dinner Qrow found another spot to bed down, well away from the party.

It was another uneventful night and morning of travel. The only excitement was when Nora insisted on getting a recording of the conditioning drill from Ron's Kimmunicator onto her scroll. The other three members of Team RNJR tried to prevent her, but the hammer-wielder wouldn't be dissuaded. When it became clear that only violence would prevent her from attaining the torturous routine, they relented. Unfortunately for Nora, the Kimmunicator proved to not be compatible with scrolls for direct data transfers; they had to broadcast from the Kimmunicator while recording with the scroll. Ruby, Ren and Jaune weren't above slipping close to the two devices and whispering disparaging comments about the workout while the recording was taking place. Qrow was heartened to see occasional smiles on the young peoples' faces.

In mid-afternoon, the track started the long, gentle descent to the town of Joki Kaupunki. Before long, Jaune and Ron came running back from their lead position, waving for the wagons to stop and for the team to gather.

"The town is under attack by grimm," Jaune reported. "It's got good walls and the townsfolk are holding their own, so we have a chance to hit the grimm from behind."

Ruby was stunned to see everyone looking at her.

"Jaune seems to have gotten over his depression," the younger girl told them. "This is his team."

"Okay," Jaune agreed, after a few moment's thought. "The wagons stay here with Qrow. Qrow, you can still operate the gun portion of your scythe, so you'll be able to defend against the odd grimm that might show up. The rest of us will arc to the left of the track; the trees form cover that will get us close, unseen. Once we get into action, we start at the left hand side of the pack and work our way to the right until we finish the grimm, got it?"

"Ren and Nora stick together," he continued, as the team nodded. "Ruby and I do the same. Ron, you stay just behind us. Your job is to deal with any grimm that might get past us, guard our backs. The grimm haven't broken through the wall yet, so no civilians are in immediate danger. That means we can take our time and be safe. We all come through this without a scratch, agreed?"

Another round of nods answered him.

"Okay, let's go."

The team kept in the tree cover as they approached the town. They could hear the roars of the grimm long before they could see them through the trees. Finally, they reached a point at which they could no longer get closer while remaining hidden. Jaune halted them long enough to observe a little of the action. Men and women lined the top of the wall, unleashing a torrent of arrows, spears and rocks onto the grim horde. The occasional shot from a dust-powered gun could be heard, indicating that there were at least a couple of hunters also defending the town. Jaune gave last minute instructions.

"Ruby and I will be closest to the wall. Ruby, switch to electric rounds, those walls are wood and we don't want to set them on fire."

Chagrined for not thinking of that detail, Ruby switched cartridges. A quick round of nods let all of the teammates know that they were as ready as they were going to be. Following their leader, they moved out of cover to execute their plan.

They made it halfway to the town wall before some of the grimm spotted them. With surprise gone, Ruby and Nora started to shoot into the mass of dark creatures. While Ruby wasn't terribly accurate on the move, she didn't have to be; she was perfectly capable of firing shots into the horde, confident that each shot would hit something hostile. Nora's grenades sent lesser grim sprawling. Ruby could hear shouts from the walls; clearly the defenders saw that help was on the way. Then, Team RNJR had closed with the grimm.

Jaune led off and swung his sword before the grimm were even in range. The swing sent a surge of force into their ranks, tumbling the closest of the dark creatures. Ruby was impressed; it showed that Jaune was continuing to develop his aura and becoming a more powerful huntsman. As per the night Ron arrived, Jaune stalked forward and cut down each of the stunned grimm in turn, while Ruby concentrated on those most capable of further combat. Unfortunately, this gimm horde was larger than the one they had encountered on that interesting night, and plenty of the creatures remained, with their wits intact, to be fought.

The horde consisted mostly of creeps, beowolves and ursa, creatures that could be hacked down with a minimum of concern about armor and exotic attacks. The team made solid progress against them. A quick glance at the wall showed that the defenders were reacting to the team; they were vacating the portions of the wall that Team RNJR cleared and concentrating on those areas where grimm still raged. The dark creatures seemed unable to make a concerted attack on either the wall or the team; while Team RNJR was in range of claws and fangs, there was more fear emanating from within the walls. Team RNJR continued its relentless advance. Then the boarbatusk appeared.

Jaune managed to yell out a warning but the creature was already in its spinning attack. Ruby vaulted out of the way and Jaune crouched low behind his angled shield. The grimm hit the defense and was sent arcing up and over the blonde. From behind Team RNJR's line, Ruby heard Ron yelling something to the effect of "batter up!"

Not understanding why someone would be thinking of a cake at a time like this, the younger teen risked a quick glance over her shoulder to see the outsider catch the grimm with a powerful blow from his staff. The staff actually broke but the grimm was sent flying high into the air.

"Awwww, pop fly!" Ron whined.

Ruby understood Ron's disappointment at his weapon breaking; but she didn't understand why he was talking about a sugary, carbonated beverage or an insect. The boarbatusk was still spinning when it crashed to Remnant in the middle of the horde. Slashing tusks actually killed several of its fellow grimm and many more were sent sprawling. Team RNJR was able to surge forward, half of the horde had been eliminated and the wall's defenders were able to concentrate on those that remained. The boarbatusk, however, wasn't out of the contest and it seemed to remember Ron.

It came galloping through the remaining grimm, setting a course between Ruby and Jaune, right at the newcomer. Ruby was tangling with a beowulf and an ursa, and couldn't intercept the stronger beast. Jaune was dueling with an ursa major and was in much the same situation. The stronger creature had a clear shot at Ron, who was armed only with a broken staff.

Ruby cut the legs out from under the beowolf and vaulted onto the ursa's back, wrapping Crescent Rose's blade around the creature's neck. She fired a dust round; the bolt finished the beowolf and the recoil decapitated the ursa. Lofted into the air, she saw Jaune hack a fore-paw off of his opponent and then thrust Crocea Mors into the grimm's eye. He kicked the creature off of his blade as Ruby turned her attention to Ron. Her eyes flew wide.

The newcomer was standing his ground, having seized the grimm's curving tusks. He was surrounded with the blue nimbus again and his eyes glowed yellow. He hurled the grimm upwards, exposing its belly to him, but he didn't go for a killing shot. Instead, he grabbed the creature's hind legs and swung it like a weapon.

The boarbatusk's head slashed a figure eight pattern in front of the newcomer and he waded into the heart of the remaining grimm. Tusks slashed dark flesh or entangled dark creatures. When the tusks snagged grimm, Ron's strength was great enough to send the enemy flying with deadly force.

"Guard his flanks!" Jaune roared to his team. Although the blonde's chest was heaving with his exertions, he followed his own orders and decapitated a creep with two powerful slashes, defending the newcomer's vulnerable backside. Ruby quickly followed suit, bisecting a beowolf.

It quickly turned into a rout. Team RNJR dispatched the handful of grimm that managed to edge around Ron's boarbatusk flurry, the huntsmen on the wall picked off the few that survived being thrown by the boarbatusk's tusks and those that were still attacking the walls were quickly overwhelmed by a torrent of spears, arrows and heavy stones. Soon, the last of the grim were dissolving before the walls...except for Ron's weapon. Ron tossed the creature into the air so that it landed on its belly, facing him. He then drove a fist right through the bony plate protecting the creature's head. The battle was now over.

"Is anybody hurt?" Jaune gasped. His shield's point rested on the ground and he was leaning on it, breathing heavily. The force blast he unleashed at the beginning of the fight must have taken more out of him than he had realized.

"Ron is," Ren answered, also struggling to get in enough air. Ruby looked to the newcomer and saw blood streaming from his palms.

Apparently, mystical monkey power didn't give the user armored skin.

Ruby snatched her own...first aid kit...from her pouch and bandaged Ron's wounds. Someone from the wall addressed the team while she was working.

"Hail huntsmen!" The shout sounded. "Well met! We'll open the gates so you can come in!"

"No!" Jaune shouted back. "We're escorting some grain wagons! Let us go and bring them back, so you only have to open the gates once!"

"That sounds wise!" The voice replied. "These are troubled times, be prepared to be watched when you enter our town!"

"We will," Jaune waved to the wall. Ron nodded to his fellow blonde, indicating that he was capable of walking. Ruby and Ren continued to tend to his wounds while they walked back to the wagons.

"We've got to get that man's aura awakened and give him some proper training," Qrow whispered to his niece, after she told him what happened. "That kind of strength can help us a lot."

Soon, the wagons were through the gates and armed, suspicious townsmen surrounded the party. The tension was quickly resolved due to the fact that a couple of the drovers had friends or family that lived in the town. Once the residents of Joki Kaupunki were certain of their visitors' identity, suspicion fell away, replaced by gratitude and welcome. Ron was quickly ushered to the local doctor, Qrow managed a meeting with the town sheriff and the remainder of the team were taken to an inn and given a complimentary meal and a complimentary room. Qrow and Ron rejoined the party in time to share in the meal.

"I talked to the village headman and the sheriff," Qrow reported. "It turns out there was a murder here last night and a lot of people are suspicious of outsiders. The tensions probably brought on the grimm. I kind of suspect another raider scout team, so I warned them about it. They're going to put some patrols out starting tomorrow."

"I also talked with some boat crews down on the docks," he continued. "A trading boat is leaving tomorrow morning for the town of Jokisatama on the coast. Seeing what you kids did to the grimm horde, they'll be more than happy to take Ron and me along. Jokisatama isn't a huge city but even if we can't find a ship to take us to Vale, we'll find one that will take us to a larger port. Either way, we'll get to Sanus."

"Doesn't that mean I'm going the wrong direction?" Ron looked like he was ready to argue the point.

"Not really," Qrow answered him, his voice calm. "Haven Academy might be the closest academy, but traveling by sea may get us to Vale faster than walking to Mistral. Ocean travel will be safer than walking and you need training and other help before you're ready to be an asset to a team. Besides, once in Vale I may be able to come up with some way of getting you to Atlas, where the technology is even more advanced."

After a moment, Ron reluctantly nodded his agreement.

"It's actually fortunate that I got messed up when I did," Qrow snorted a humorless laugh. "We haven't crossed the mountains yet, so the rivers are all still flowing to the west. If Tyrian hadn't made an appearance for another week or so, we'd have been on the other side of the mountains and the rivers would have either run to the inland lake or south to the bay, the journey back to vale would have been a lot longer."

"Ron and I are going to be on that boat by sunup tomorrow," Qrow concluded his report. "So any goodbyes or plans are going to have to be done tonight."

"Qrow?" Ren asked, his face thoughtful. "While you were wounded fighting Tyrian, your mind was still sharp. Thinking back to it, he was badly wounded, himself. Why didn't you have the four of us...well...finish him off, if he's as dangerous as you've insinuated?"

"Because he'd be no good to us dead," Qrow told him.

"But what good is he to us while he is alive?" Ren was confused.

"Like you said, he was hurt bad, just like I am," Qrow answered. "I'm heading home to heal up, don't you think he's going to do something...similar?"

"But what benefit is that to us?"

Qrow just smiled in response.

* * *

"General Ironwood," from the general's position on the brightly lit stage, he couldn't see who was questioning him. "You understand that the council is more than a little concerned by your sudden change of attitude towards automation on the battlefield. Furthermore, we have already let out multiple, large contracts to some of our most loyal corporations to provide this technology. Why have you had such an abrupt change of opinion?"

"Experience in Vale," the general told his unseen audience.

"One incident!" An indignant voice protested. "And for that incident, you are willing to change our military doctrine? A doctrine, I might add, that you were instrumental in crafting! Not only that, the ramifications to our economy are incredible!"

"The one incident could have happened here, but for the fact that our enemy was ready to act when the Vytal Festival took place in Vale," Ironwood countered. "But for the grace of probability, it could have been our citizens under the guns of my androids! These androids guard us as we speak, Mr. Council member, are you convinced that they can never turn their guns upon us?"

"You assured us that they would never do so," another voice addressed him. Ironwood recognized Jacques Schnee.

"And I was wrong," Ironwood stated, bluntly. "Hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives were lost due to that error and I do not intend on repeating it."

"And how do you intend on compensating those companies who have invested a great deal in research and production facilities to produce your previous, _foolproof_ plan?" Schnee was in rare form today.

"Mutually beneficial agreements can be renegotiated," General Ironwood turned on his stern voice. "Most of the production facilities can be slightly modified to support the new doctrine and over ninety percent of the research is applicable to automation under direct, human control."

"So you remain an advocate of battlefield automation?" Schnee's voice demanded.

"Indeed. It is my continued belief that maximum combat power should be brought to bear on the enemy while putting the minimum possible lives at risk. My error was in not seeing that by providing a single control point, I put civilian lives at risk."

"Our material losses were devastating," another voice pointed out. "And our personnel losses serious."

"I am well aware of this," Ironwood's face grew hard, remembering the desperate battle against his own equipment. "I am also aware that we need to reconstruct our depleted forces. I fully intend on reconstituting these forces while incorporating the harsh lessons the Vale debacle has taught me."

"So you want to do away with the Atlesian Knights," Schnee's voice yelled at him yet again. "What will you guard us with, the same children and renegades that Vale depended upon?"

"No! The first step is being implemented at this moment. Each of the knights still in operation will be under the direct control of a human operator. All others will be deactivated until additional human operators can be trained. In addition, the autonomous capabilities are being removed from all paladins. I will only field mechs that have human operators."

"Why do you fear the shortcomings of Vale?" The businessman taunted him. "We have no White Fang operatives in Atlas! There is no criminal element or failed settlements to shelter would-be infiltrators! Why change what has worked for us for so long due to the shortcomings of another kingdom?"

"Don't fool yourselves," Ironwood allowed a fraction of his irritation to sound in his voice. "Just because we haven't _found_ White Fang operatives doesn't mean they aren't here. We have a criminal element as well as a significant portion of our population that looks upon us here, the culturally elite, as parasites and oppressors. It only takes a few disaffected souls to let our enemy in. I refuse to let such an enemy make use of our forces ever again!"

"You have reported before that freshly trained operators are not efficient," another voice commented. "That they may hesitate to take lethal action."

"I will accept that risk from now on," General Ironwood informed his audience. "I would much rather have a human operator hesitate to kill a living enemy than have a computer brain kill a citizen without remorse."

"But make no mistake," he raised his voice to be heard over the murmuring gossip. "The world saw our Atlesian Knights firing upon innocent civilians in Vale before worldwide communications went down. The world at large does not know why this happened, so there is a great deal of suspicion at this time. I intend that such an incident NEVER happens again. If this means embracing the frailties of human emotion and compassion, so be it. Yet the enemy that brought this about, that crippled Vale, will not be satisfied with this conquest. That enemy is our enemy! Our kingdoms are now divided and mankind is more vulnerable than we have been since the great war. I do not know where this enemy will strike next but when it does, I will be ready. Atlas will rally to face this enemy for the good of all Remnant!"

"So you'll spend our efforts, treasure and our very lives somewhere far away, for the benefit of those who now call us the enemy?" Ironwood was getting very tired of hearing Schnee's voice.

"I swore an oath to protect the people of Atlas to the best of my ability," General Ironwood stood tall and proud. "And if that means fighting our greatest threat far away, where our own people will not be caught it the crossfire, I'll gladly do so."

* * *

 _A/N: Thanks to all of you who have added this tale to your favorites or follows list. Big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment. They really motivate me to keep writing._

 _As always, biggest thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, for his beta reading._

 _Until next update, best wishes to all;_

 _daccu65_


	6. Chapter 6

"Why the pensive expression?"

Ruby looked up at Jaune's question, only now realizing how melancholy she was feeling. She tightened a last connection on Crescent Rose and put away her multi-tool. Before she answered her friend, she stretched and looked around the camp.

The team had been both lucky and unlucky since putting Ron and Qrow on the trading boat. The very day she said farewell to her uncle, while pressing a couple of letters into his hand, the team left Joki Kaupunki and headed east, intent on skirting the southern edge of Anima's great, inland lake. After four days of travel, they reached the very large town of Wioska Handlowa. Fortunately, the town was well defended and peaceful. Unfortunately, there was already a more experienced hunter team operating there on a more-or-less permanent basis. This meant that there weren't any lucrative contacts to be had.

Instead, two days after arriving, they agreed to escort a cattle drive, in roughly the direction they wanted to travel. They received only food and medical care during the trip. The agreement had called for them to receive lien if they had to fight off grimm or raiders, but the two-week trip had been quiet. Instead of gaining money and experience, Ruby had gained boredom, way too much time to think about her family and a piece of knowledge that made her wonder if she would ever eat beef again; cattle gathered in large herds stunk!

It hadn't been all bad; the herd finally reached another town, Ruby didn't recall the name, where there hadn't been an active huntsman team and a small band of bandits was starting to make trouble. A local trapper tracked the band and told the team roughly where they were encamped. This time, Team RNJR was prepared to deal with ill-trained bandits with no active auras. The encounter was sharp, violent and had resulted in the bandits sporting severe bruises and even a few broken bones; but no fatalities. This was fortunate, as they were mostly young people, ranging from Ruby's age to a couple of years older than her companions.

Their luck had held when they herded their captives back to the town. The townsfolk weren't predisposed towards retribution and when they learned that the bandits were youngsters that had been uprooted and orphaned by previous bandit raids, they were moved to pity. They didn't trust their captives and kept them secured, but they put them to work. In a few months, the former bandits would probably be hard working tradesmen and laborers with histories a little more colorful than most. Team RNJR, taking Qrow's advice, told the villagers they were heading to the southeast while they actually traveled northeast.

Capturing the bandits hadn't put more lien in Team RNJR's wallets, but it had put more supplies in their packs. With no immediate need of income, they traveled through foothills, away from heavy traffic, and watched their back trail. For the last five days, they hadn't spotted anyone following them. Sure that they were not being tracked, they decided to set their course towards the nearest town and seek further income. They should reach the town in another day, which brought Ruby's mind back to the here and now, and the question she had delayed too long to answer.

"I'm just thinking that dealing with something so major meant that I missed something along the way," she admitted.

"I know how you feel," Jaune told her.

"You do?"

"Yeah," he agreed, sitting next to her on the log. "None of us are really old enough to be dealing with what we are." He made a grand gesture to encompass the campsite. "We only managed most of our first year at Beacon and now, here we are. We're on another continent, protecting towns from grimm and bandits, making life-or-death decisions with nobody older to talk to ahead of time. We should have had more time, more training and education before dealing with all of this."

"It's rough," Ruby admitted. "But it's not really what I meant."

"You must be feeling down about the losses we've had," Jaune nodded with sudden understanding. He struggled for a bit before managing to say her name. "Pyrrha's gone. Yang lost her arm and a lot of her spirit. Ozpin's missing and your uncle may or may not fully recover. Weiss's father took her back to Atlas and we haven't heard from her since and Blake just flat out vanished. Not only that, we haven't had any contact with other friends, like Team SSSN or Team CVFY. We should have friends around us, not be mourning them or wondering where they are."

"That bothers me," Ruby agreed. "But it still wasn't what had me sad."

"Oh, it must be the conspiracy," Jaune's held up a finger to indicate he understood now. "Some woman...or is she really a human or faunas woman...named Salem is trying to crush the four kingdoms. She sent a fighting man that the four of us together couldn't beat to drag you off to we don't know where for reasons we don't know why. Why is she doing what she's doing? What's her next move? This is a job for generals or headmasters; maybe council members or professors. It isn't a job for kids like us. We can barely cut a decent deal for our services, even when our services are in demand yet here we are right now. We're trying to get to Haven to warn the headmaster to be ready for an attack; yet we don't know when, where or how the attack will come. We're just kids, yet the fate of the whole world could be on our shoulders."

"That's a heavy load to carry," Ruby agreed. "But it's still not what I was talking about."

"Then what has you feeling so down?"

"Well, I really like this multi-tool I had the blacksmith make," Ruby held up the implement. "But before we left Joki Kaupunki, Ron gave me this."

She held up what appeared to be a thick pocket knife.

"He called it a...Swiss Army Knife," she started to unfold the various blades and other items. "It's really neat, not as neat as the multi-tool, but still really cool. I just wish that I had one before seeing the multi-tool for the first time. If I had, I might appreciate my tool so much more than I do right now. I feel like I skipped a step, like I should have had this smaller and more simple gadget before I got my hands on the more complex and versatile contraption. Do you know what I mean?"

For several long minutes, Jaune simply stared at her. Finally, he heaved himself to his feet.

"I think I'll go talk to Ren for a few minutes," he grumbled.

"Those other items you brought up, they bother me," she insisted. "They really do! It's just that while I'm maintaining Crescent Rose, everything else sort of goes to the back of my mind and I..."

"Leaving to talk to Ren," Jaune reminded her.

"Good idea," she agreed. "Maybe some guy talk will help you out."

"Maybe it will."

* * *

"Okay, kid, why are you avoiding everyone?"

Ron looked down from his intense contemplation of the night sky and looked at the older...huntsman...who everyone called Qrow.

"I just don't have much to talk with people about," Ron grumbled.

"You got along fine with everyone at the villages," Qrow reminded him. "You took over kitchens and had everyone happy with strange food. You fought side by side with my niece and her team. Once we hit the water, you started to get real moody."

"I couldn't boil my drinking water," Ron pointed out. "It was bad enough back on Earth. Oh, the cities with their chlorination systems were fine but when we got into the countryside, we learned the hard way to be careful with our drinking water."

"I have no idea what chlorination is, but I think I know what you mean," Qrow smiled with remembered discomfort. "One of the things that we don't warn our aspiring huntsmen and huntresses about; when you move a large distance quickly, your innards don't have time to adapt to the local bacteria. That's why I don't drink water when I can avoid it."

He emphasized his statement by taking a long draw from his flask.

"Well, pouring my body's nutrients into the local ecosystem puts me in a bad mood," Ron told him.

"That's not it, not anymore," Qrow fixed him with a stern gaze that belied the fact that he was drinking to make up for lost time. "You were squirting all the way down the river and the first two days at sea. After that, you seem to have recovered."

"You seem a little overly interested in my digestive processes," Ron challenged him, looking ready for a fight.

"It's my job to notice things," Qrow told him. "Be honest with me, what has you up on the cabin roof moping every night?"

"The stars," Ron finally admitted. "I keep wondering which one my world is circling right now, but I don't think it's that simple. Even if I could see my sun, the light would be what, centuries, eons old? Of course, I don't think I could get back home even if I could fly at a million times the speed of light. Certain rules should be the same all across the universe. On my world, there is no dust, there are no auras or semblances. No matter how strong and agile you are, you can't fight the laws of physics."

"Is physics your kingdom?" Qrow asked.

"No, a science," Ron corrected him. "You know, what goes up must come down, every action has an equal but opposite reaction, that sort of thing."

"Okay, I think I understand that," Qrow told him. "No magic, no auras, no dust, just science."

"There are some mystical things," Ron admitted. "But they're very rare, so I'm pretty sure that this isn't my universe. I'm farther away from home than I could measure with distance but at the same time, I'm closer to her than I am to you."

"Her?" Qrow prompted.

Ron showed no inclination to answer. Qrow sighed.

"Look, kid. Why don't I tell you a truth and then you can tell me one?" He suggested. Ron nodded.

"I don't trust you, at least not yet," Qrow admitted. "On this world, some people are able to open portals, a lot like the one you fell through. I don't know if you're what you say you are or some spy that the other side sent. Of course, even if you're what you say you are, how do I know you're one of the good guys? You could be fleeing justice or something like that. Part of the reason you're with me right now is to keep you away from where I think the next part in this little drama I call 'the fate of Remnant' is going to take place."

"So you're not going to help me get back?" Ron's eyes started to glow yellow. Not a good sign.

"I'm taking you to the only people that may be able to help you, if you're telling the truth," Qrow told him. "But I'll admit right now that it's a secondary consideration. The first is to get you away from Mistral so I can figure out just what you are."

After several minutes, Ron offered a nod, by tipping his head slightly to his right. "Okay," the younger man agreed. "That was honest enough. _Her_ is Kim Possible; my best friend, crime-fighting partner, girlfriend and she would have been my fiance if I hadn't wound up here."

"Okay, I don't understand the term fiance," Qrow told him.

"I was going to ask her to marry me," Ron answered.

For a full minute, Qrow just looked the younger man over.

"Don't tell me you don't know what a marriage is," Ron grumbled.

"Oh, I know the concept," the older man assured him. "But in the kingdoms, it only takes place when there's a lot of wealth, fame or political power to track."

"That's not the case where I come from," Ron told him.

"Okay, cultural difference between us," Qrow nodded. _Or maybe you're faking it._ "Do you have a picture of this young lady?"

For a moment, Ron looked like he wasn't going to answer, but he finally pulled out his electronic device that functioned similar to a scroll and manipulated the controls. After a few minutes, he passed the device to the older man and indicated a single button.

"This button will let you scroll through two pictures and a short video," the younger man told him. "That's all I'm willing to let you see right now."

"Fair enough," Qrow nodded. The huntsman pressed the button and watched the screen.

He saw a picture of a pretty young woman. For a moment, she reminded him of the late Pyrrha Nikos; as both had red hair and green eyes. She wore a casual but warm smile. Qrow could picture the scene; Ron had probably asked his sweetheart to pose for a quick picture to display when he got a call. Then he noted the differences; for one thing, Kim's hair was a lighter shade of red and her facial features were more rounded. Also, her mouth and nose were larger than those of most women that Qrow had met, but they didn't look wrong on her. Finally, her lips were very prominent. The older man had an idea, even as he pressed the button to see the next picture.

This was a more formal picture of Kim and Ron. She was wearing a simple but elegant, light blue dress and he was wearing a hideous, baby-blue formal suit. Looking closer, he noted that the dress's hem was scorched. Clearly, there was a story here. The full-body picture told him that Kim had a very slender, athletic build.

"She's pretty," Qrow commented. "But the idea of fashion where you're from must be very different from here. Even I'm nearly gagging at that suit you're wearing."

"Everyone was gagging at the suit I was wearing," Ron snorted back. "Never be normal!"

Qrow gave the younger man a guarded look and pressed the button again.

 _"Hey Ron,"_ the young woman must have been addressing her own recording device. _"I just got back from Montana. I know you're still on shift and will get off in a couple of hours. Well, I'm treating you to a date tonight! Let me know when you get off work, I have reservations at a nice steak house. Can't wait to see you again! A week's been too long. Love you."_

"Ron," he told his companion. "Over the next couple of days, I want you to go through this device and pick out any picture and video you don't mind me seeing. I'll want to review them."

"Why?" The young man was clearly confused.

"Like I said, I don't trust you yet. But this is putting me on that path."

"I don't understand," Ron confessed.

"Hopefully, you will before too much longer. Anyway, you've given me some truth. Are you willing to go another round?"

"I don't have anything else to do," the teenager told him.

"Okay, what do you think that Salem was trading to this guy on your world?"

"We saw some of the grimm," Ron answered, after thinking for a moment. "I think the ones we saw were the ones people have been calling ursa. I know he was getting dust, because we found a crystal in the staff I took from one of the henchmen. I think he was getting dust ammunition, as well."

"But you didn't see it?" Qrow prompted.

"No," the younger man shook his head. "But the reason we were called in was his henchmen were able to use guns in his lair."

"That one went right by me," Qrow told him. "Are you telling me you don't have guns?"

"That's not the case," Ron protested. "Look, I don't know the chemistry and physics of the whole thing, but the mad scientist type villains that we deal with use something called a zero point energy generator to power their lairs. They produce a great deal of energy with very little waste. The problem is, most traditional explosives detonate immediately when they get anywhere near the generator. Carrying the guns that most of my world uses into one of these lairs means you risk it blowing up in your hands."

"What gets used instead of dust?"

"For guns, chemical propellants." Ron told him. "Before you ask, they're chemical compounds that explode hit with heat and pressure. They push metal projectiles out of the gun barrel." The young man paused for a moment. "We don't have all of the effects that you do, you know, ice and fire when the bullet hits, but our bullets move a lot faster."

"Okay, that's interesting," Qrow mused. "How much faster?"

"Most go faster than the speed of sound." Ron told him. "That's fast enough to punch through most armor that people can carry with them."

"That would be something worth trading back to our world," the older man postulated. "Bullets that move too fast to see and dodge would really mess up any huntsmen trying to fight Salem's bunch."

"Now you owe me a bit of truth," Ron pointed out.

"Right," Qrow nodded. "Okay, here goes. Ron, I'm part of a group of people trying to protect our world from someone called Salem. The only thing we know about her is that she seems to want to destroy all life. Now, I think that this makes me one of the good guys. I'm going to try to recruit you to my side. I think that once we awaken your aura and give you some proper training on how to use it, you'll be a powerful force for good."

"This is some profound secret?" Ron asked.

"I'm being honest," Qrow told him. I want you to know that I want you on my side. I want you to decide for yourself if you want to join up, for however long you're on this world. If you help, some powerful folks in Atlas will be more inclined to put their technology to the problem of getting you back."

"So if I don't help you, you don't help me?" Ron's voice was flat and without emotion.

"I'm not saying that, kid. I'm saying that I'm no scientist. The scientists most likely to be able to help you are under a certain influence of another guy who's part of my group. It doesn't mean he and I get along all that well."

Ron nodded, understanding how teammates that worked well together didn't necessarily have to like each other very much.

"Okay, he's a good guy, in his own way, but it would help if I could give him something to benefit him. He wants to protect those good people at the top of the world and he understands that the best way to do that is to counter Salem. Think of it this way, if you help us it will free up some effort for him to arrange to help you. It's a fair trade and good folks are better off, so you don't need to feel guilty. Besides that, I'm sure that it's going to take those good folks some time to set things up, so you might as well be doing some good deeds in the meantime. Now, for the cherry on top, you'll go back to your reality with an awakened aura and that means more capability."

"Sounds reasonable," Ron agreed. "So, do you want to play another round?"

"Nah, I've had enough telling the truth for one night. Catch you tomorrow."

The older man wandered off towards their cabin. Ron returned his gaze to the uncaring night sky.

* * *

"Ah, Miss Schnee, please come in and be seated."

Weiss looked into the meeting room where she had meet General Ironwood prior to taking refuge at Atlas Academy.

"Before I come in, may I ask if I'm meeting with Headmaster Ironwood or General Ironwood?"

"A little of both," he offered a tight smile. "But mostly the headmaster."

"Very well, headmaster," she walked into the room and closed the door behind her, taking the indicated seat.

"May I offer you a beverage while waiting for our other guest?" He asked.

"Water would be fine, Headmaster," she stated, noting the pitcher and three glasses on the table. "Will we be waiting long for our other guest?"

"I suspect only a few minutes," the big man, stated, pouring a glass for the girl and for himself. "I note that you are not questioning the subject of this meeting."

"I assume that you will tell me when the other guest arrives," she stated. "Repeating yourself can be monotonous."

He offered her a polite bow of thanks, interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Enter!" He called, remaining on his feet.

Weiss wasn't surprised, or at least not very much, when the door opened to reveal her sister. Out of politeness, the younger Schnee rose to her feet.

"Captain Schnee, reporting as ordered," the older Schnee offered a salute, which her superior returned.

"Come in and be seated," he ordered. "May I offer you a glass of water?"

"Please, General," Captain Schnee had learned to read her superior's mannerisms. He was being a host, rather than a superior officer, at the moment.

"Ladies, a mission has come up for the younger Miss Schnee," he told them, once all were seated. "As she is still a minor, I wanted her sister here to comment. Furthermore, as this will be her first mission, I wanted a relative present to make sure she understood the objectives and dangers."

Weiss's breath caught in her throat. A real mission! Something to do other than hide from her father!

"As Winter already knows, the headmasters used to maintain close contact with each other. I will not divulge everything we discussed, but we were concerned with far more than educating our students; we were concerned with the fate of our entire world. Even now, with the CCT down, we maintain contact, albeit sporadic and slow. I have learned of a possible threat and opportunity, all rolled into one. This is where you come in, Weiss."

Winter gave her sister a measured look while Weiss struggled to contain her excitement.

"According to one of Ozpin's agents, a young man fell out of a portal. He claims to be from a different world and carried items of a technology that was different than our own. He claimed to know nothing of aura or semblances; in fact, the agent scanned him and found that his aura hadn't been awakened."

"That sounds like a far-fetched claim," Winter commented, when Ironwood paused. "It sounds like someone dropped him onto the agent's lap to play the helpless innocent and learn what the agent knows."

"I still suspect the same thing," Headmaster Ironwood admitted. "But this same young man, with no aura, overpowered a beringal with his bare hands." Seeing the two women's confused looks, he quickly added. "A beringal is a relatively new form of grimm, larger and more powerful than an ursa major."

Both Schnee women's eyes widened.

"In addition, he carries a strange device, of unknown technology, that he claims brought him from this other world, although he is not a scientist and cannot make use of it."

"That sounds odd," Weiss added, after Ironwood paused again.

"Perhaps odd enough to be the truth," the headmaster informed her. "This young man, with the device, is currently traveling towards the island of Patch."

Weiss became excited again.

"I cannot track his exact location, when he will arrive or even where he will go when he reaches Patch. I am sending you, Weiss, to play the part of a refugee from your father's wrath. You will go to Patch, seek refuge at the home of Taiyang Xiao Long, as your former teammates Ruby and Yang are his daughters. There, you will watch and listen for this young man to arrive. Once he does, you will find him and determine if he is a threat. If he is not a threat, you will bring him here, to Atlas, where our top scientists will question him and learn what they can."

"But if he isn't a scientist, what good will he do ours?" Weiss asked.

"Simply the concept of new discoveries, the ability to look at a problem from a different viewpoint, can be valuable," the headmaster told her. "I find it most likely that he is a spy, so I am not sending a top agent to observe him. Miss Schnee, while I consider you very capable, you are not experienced and therefore, it is no great loss if you tied down chasing a false hope. Yet, the possibility is intriguing and I wish to pursue it."

"I'll do it," Weiss told him. "Not only will I get to see Ruby and Yang again, it will get me out of Atlas."

"I thought you might see these benefits," Headmaster Ironwood allowed a ghost of a smile to crease his lips for a moment.

"General," Winter addressed her superior. "How will we get her to patch? Tensions between Atlas and Vale are high, so passenger traffic is light and closely observed. She is underage and officially a missing person; the reward our father has posted for her return is very flattering."

"I will place her on a smuggler's ship," the general told the captain.

"There are no smugglers in Atlas!" Winter protested. "We're an orderly society!"

The general merely fixed his subordinate with a level look; one that was equal parts irritation for being interrupted and amused at her naivety.

"My apologies, General," Winter gently inclined her head.

"As I was saying," he continued. "Tomorrow night, these smugglers will load a cargo of contraband dust, sail to Sanus and offload the cargo just outside of the kingdom. The will have porters to carry the dust into a less than upstanding neighborhood in Vale. Once in the kingdom, Weiss's face won't be posted on every billboard, allowing her to make her own way to Patch."

"I'm just reminding the general," Winter protested, but in a much more respectful tone. "That this plan puts my sister in the hands of known criminals and outside of the protection of the law. What if they decide to seize her for robbery, ransom or...other...reasons?"

"I believe that is why your sister carries a rapier and has worked long and hard to hone her skill," Ironwood noted. For some reason, this statement made Weiss sit up a little taller.

"This is exactly why I want to become a huntress," the younger Schnee interjected. "Headmaster, I understand you have more valuable agents. By doing this, I'm freeing them up to do more important missions. The only thing that bothers me is that I'm going to be using my friendship with Yang and Ruby."

"Welcome to the world of being a huntress," the general told her, his voice now stern.

"Understood, headmaster."

"You realize that you don't have to abuse your friendship," Ironwood continued. "If the situation dictates, simply tell your friends why you are there. There are times that honesty is more valuable than deception."

"Yes, sir!"

"Very well," Ironwood rose to his feet, prompting his subordinates to do the same, and glanced at his watch. "The two of you will have exactly twenty minutes to say your goodbyes and offer advice. After that, two of my students, who have some experience with the...less than completely law-abiding portions of our population...will arrive. These students will assist Weiss as she prepares for her journey."

Winter snapped to attention as the general and headmaster exited the meeting room.

"This is going to be dangerous," Winter told her younger sister. "I am not fully confident that you are prepared for this."

"I AM ready," Weiss protested. "I have to start somewhere. I've fought the White Fang, I've fought grim and I've fought our own robots. I am capable of riding a ship across the sea!"

"Sister," Winter embraced Weiss. "I have no doubt that you are capable of fighting the grim and common thugs. What you don't know, what I didn't know at your age was that not all well-trained fighters are on your side. I have been forced to deal with truly evil men and women every bit as capable as any of the instructors you have learned from at Atlas or Beacon. You cannot handle such a challenge!"

"Yet, you have to start somewhere," Winter admitted, releasing her and stepping back. "And those very capable foes are few and far between. If I were to keep you here until I was convinced you could handle anything, you'd never leave. The general is correct, it is time to put you to work."

"Thank you," Weiss managed to wipe her tear away before it got too far down her cheek. "Can you offer any advice?"

"Well, first of all, you're going to develop a strong affinity to dirt, grease and other grime," Winter told her. "We also have to do something about that hair, it's very distinctive. We also have to address your clothing."

The two Schnees discussed keeping a low profile until another knock sounded on the door. Weiss was touched when Winter looked to her to respond.

"Come in!" The younger woman called.

"Getting ready to consort with the criminal element," the young man who walked in commented. "I can dig it, Schnee!"

"Flynt!" Weiss embraced her one-time opponent.

"You're going on a secret mission?" The young woman behind him gasped. "That is super cool! You have to tell us all about it when you get back!"

"Neon?"

"It's time to get moving, Schnee," Flynt told her. "We don't have much time. You've got a cover story now. The crew of the Silk Shadow has taken you on as a little extra fighting power, so you better prove that you can tussle."

"The crew is rough," Neon told her. "But once you dish out a few black eyes, they treat you with respect."

"How did you guys get involved with smugglers?" Weiss asked them.

"Your dad drove my old man out of business," Flynt told her. "But that didn't mean he quit selling dust. Anyway, you realize that by sailing off like this, you're actually helping to rob from your father?"

"This mission is sounding better and better," Weiss admitted.

* * *

"Excuse me Miss, I was wondering if you could help me a little. I'm new in town."

Janta first looked at the inn's guest curiously, then with a more friendly expression when he placed a few lien beyond the cost of his meal on the table.

"Of course, we try to help our guests in any way we can."

"I'm trying to catch an acquaintance of my brother's. He was traveling in this area a few days ago, heading southeast. I was wondering if he passed through here. He's a slender man, very long face and has scars across his chest."

"Are you sure you want to find him?" She shuddered. "If he's the guy I'm thinking of, he's crazy. He stayed here a few days ago, kept talking to himself about someone forgiving him and getting even with a...well...a bitch."

"That sounds like him," the blonde, middle-aged man's face went dark for a moment. "Do you know where he went?"

"No," Janta shook her head. "When he left here, I was just glad to see him go. He gave me the creeps." She shuddered again, then looked around to make sure nobody else could overhear her. "Just to make sure we're talking about the same guy, he's a faunas, right? This guy had some sort of a tail and he just left it dragging on the ground."

"He's a faunas," the guest agreed. "There isn't a problem with that, is there?"

"No!" Janta quickly clarified. "Guests are guests and lien is lien. It's just that tail...well, it does set him apart."

"That it does," the blonde man, and Janta had to admit that he was kind of cute, nodded. He dropped another small lien on the table before continuing to speak. "If I was to continue heading southeast, what can I expect?"

"Towns will get fewer as you skirt between the mountains and the sea," she told him. "There's supposed to be a pass through the mountains that leads to the lava flats in the far southeast, but nobody goes that far."

"Well, the man got into some trouble and I'm hoping to catch him before he gets into any more," the guest shrugged. "I have to go where he does."

For a moment, Janta stared at her guest, wondering if he really wanted to catch the crazy man. Her guest had an open, friendly face that she hoped would come to no harm. She didn't notice him carrying any weapons when he checked in, but he had a build that was both lean and muscular. He also wore a spaulder on his right shoulder, meaning that he must be prepared for some sort of combat.

"I wish you luck..." she prompted him.

"My friends call me Tai," he said. His smile was very pleasant.

"Well, Tai, will you be joining us in the taproom tonight? You look like you've come from quite a ways away, and stories are always welcome."

"I'm afraid not," he rose to his feet. "I better get some rest. I'll need to be on the road early in the morning."

"By the way," Janta asked him. "Why do you think he's heading southeast?"

"Oh, a little bird told me."

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _I'd like to thank Jimmy1201 for his permission to use the concept of the zero point energy generator to explain why the mad scientists in the Kim Possible Universe don't use guns. He introduced the concept in his tale 'Ron's Coin' and was generous enough to let me use it for this tale._

 _Big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._


	7. Chapter 7

"Alright everyone, just form up and walk through the gate. Please...PLEASE remain calm."

"Guys, let's stay at the back of the line," Jaune suggested. The rest of Team RNJR agreed.

Ruby allowed herself to relax a little. They had finally made it! Or, to be honest, they had just finished the first step of the journey. They were standing at a port of entry to Mistral, near the city of Kuchinashi. Looking left and right, the shortest member of Team RNJR noted the high wall, completely filling a gap between two high peaks, with a wide gate allowing entrance to and exit from the kingdom.

"Don't be concerned," the voice announced over the speaker above the gate. "Everyone will get in. Just please, don't start shoving and arguing."

A smaller secondary gate, to the side of the one Team RWBY was cuing up to pass through, opened and allowed a dozen armed men, wearing armor that bore the Mystral Sigil, to exit. The gate quickly closed behind them and the men marched past the group of entrance seekers and down the dusty road that Team RWBY had traveled up a short time ago. The soldiers passed over a ridge and vanished from sight. Ruby looked over the team's fellow travelers.

Most seemed to be traders, with wagons loaded with various goods. A distressing number looked like refugees; men, women and children carrying their possessions with them. The teen noted shock, despair and fear in their eyes; emotions she had become all too familiar with in the last few weeks.

Suddenly, yells and screams sounded from the direction the soldiers had gone, followed by shouted commands. Moments later, the staccato bark of gunshots could be heard.

"Everyone, inside!" The speaker announced. "We'll sort things out later!"

More soldiers emerged, pushing the travelers through the gate.

"Not us," Jaune told his team. "We go _to_ trouble, not away from it!"

The team offered tight nods in response. The four young adults broke into a run, keeping together, towards the sounds of fighting. Cresting the ridgeline, the team found themselves looking at a broad valley, covered with high grass and playing host to a firefight. Dust rounds crisscrossed as the soldiers attempted to cover a handful of civilians, who were fleeing towards the safety of the port of entry. The assailants were not visible; only their dust rounds bursting from concealed positions in the tall grass announced their presence.

A civilian dropped to the ground, writhing in pain and grasping a wound on his stomach. A woman wouldn't leave him as the rest of the civilians fled over the ridgeline and out of the direct line of fire.

"Ruby! Nora! Covering fire!" Jaune roared, rushing to the wounded civilian.

The blonde placed himself between the attackers and the civilians, blocking several dust rounds with his shield. Ren and one of the soldiers rushed to the wounded man while the remaining soldiers increased their fire, trying to keep the assailants pinned down. Ruby braced Crescent Rose and scanned for targets, firing at muzzle flashes. Nora's weapon proved to be a difference maker. When a grenade hit close to a hidden marksman, the target was sent sprawling. Nora's first target was knocked out of his concealed location and hit multiple times by the soldiers' fire, leaving him motionless on the ground. Nora's next target dove to avoid the grenade, exposing herself to a barrage from the Mistral Soldiers. She was hit at least twice, but she must have had an active aura as she was able to find concealment again.

Then the rounds were coming Nora's way and the huntress was forced to duck below the ridge's peak. Ruby continued to fire at muzzle-flashes but now dust rounds sought her out. She allowed her latest round's recoil to push her below the ridgeline. Once out of the line of fire she ran several feet to her right, while loading a fresh magazine into her weapon. Behind her, Nora had already relocated and fired another grenade, which prompted another burst of fire from the soldiers. Nora ducked back down as dust rounds kicked up dirt and grass around where she had fired. Now Ruby hurled herself above the ridgeline and brought Crescent Rose into play.

Ruby took a moment to see that Jaune still covered the wounded man and those who were assisting him. Then she scanned the grasslands and focused on one muzzle flash. Through her scope, she actually spotted the gunman and got in a shot. She saw her round hit and open a wound on his shoulder before he slithered into deeper grass and out of sight. She pumped out two more shots at muzzle-flashes before she felt the hard slap in the chest of a round hitting her aura. She repeated her relocation drill while Nora fired another grenade and the soldier with the wounded civilian yelled 'Stable!'.

When Ruby jumped up to fire again, she first saw that the soldier and Ren were now carrying the wounded civilian towards the ridgeline while Jaune still protected them with his shield and his body. The soldiers were pouring fire at the attackers, desperately trying to keep them down while the wounded man was evacuated. Ruby fired three shots, not knowing if she hit anyone or not. Ren and the soldier drug the wounded civilian over the ridgeline and out of immediate danger. The woman was right on their heels. Once they were safe, Jaune scrambled over, as well.

Rounds were striking all around Ruby, so she rushed to change her position again. She heard Nora fire another grenade. The return fire from the assailants seemed to be slacking off when she heard another soldier's voice.

"Alpha team, pull back!" The roar sounded.

Ruby got into a firing position in time to see half of the soldiers scramble back over the ridgeline while their companions increased their fire. Once the moving soldiers were over the peak, they took up positions and started to fire.

"Bravo team, bound!" The voice roared again.

Ruby fired twice more, but there were fewer muzzle-flashes to shoot at. The soldiers still on the dangerous side of the ridge now scrambled to the safe side, while their comrades poured fire at the enemy. Once over the ridge, this second group of soldiers sprinted down the slope and took up concealed positions in the grass on either side of the road.

"Alpha team, bound!" This time, Ruby noted the soldier who was shouting the orders. He appeared to be a little older, perhaps in his late twenties. In response to the command, the soldiers on the ridgeline slid out of the line of fire and hurried down the road, taking up positions farther on the way to the port of entry. Nora and Ruby rejoined their teammates.

Ren seemed fine and Jaune winced a little and favored his right side. While he had blocked most of the dust rounds, at least one had gotten by his shield. His aura and armor had prevented serious injury, but he was in a little pain. Now that all of his men were out of the line of fire, the leader of the soldiers saw to his own wounded. Two of the men sported bloody, but not life-threatening, wounds on their limbs.

"Huntsmen," the older man addressed the team. "Please stay with the wounded civilian. We will cover your retreat to the entry fort!"

"You drove the attackers off," Jaune protested. "Why do they need more protect..."

A loud roar in the distance interrupted the young blonde.

"That's why!" The leader snarled back. "Those bastards don't give a damn if they kill people, they just want to draw the grimm and flee, leaving us to deal with the beasts!"

"Right!" Jaune agreed. "Team, let's stick with the wounded man!"

Prompted by their leader's order, and the logic from the soldier, Team RNJR formed around the wounded man, the soldier who was now carrying him, and the woman. Ren was in the lead, Ruby and Nora to either side, while Jaune brought up the rear. As they passed alpha team, Ruby noted that the soldiers were assembling the components of some sort of heavy weapon.

"Not the time to study it," Nora chided her, noting her professional interest. "Let's get the poor man to safety first."

"Bravo team, bound!" The older soldiers voice called out, as Ruby nodded her understanding to Nora and regretfully pulled her attention away from the weapon taking shape. Behind them, the soldiers of the bravo team rushed past their comrades, closer to the port of entry, before taking up positions again. That's when shots started to sound again.

Ruby looked over her shoulder to see several grimm pour over the ridge, to be met by a hail of gunfire from alpha team. A couple of creeps and beowolves were dropped immediately but then a boarbatusk appeared, shrugging off the soldiers' rounds. Ruby instinctively turned to face the stronger beast.

"Stay with the mission!"Jaune snarled at her.

"But..." Ruby started to protest, only to be interrupted by a louder explosion. The boarbatusk seemed to come apart in mid charge.

"The soldiers know what they're doing," Jaune chided her, his head snapping back and forth like some kind of machine. "Nora, one coming from your side!"

Now Ruby saw a creep rushing the party from their left...Nora's side. "On it!" the young woman shouted with her usual enthusiasm. She stepped slightly away from the party and met the onrushing creature with a single swipe of her hammer, sending it flying back. Behind them, they could hear the older soldier call for alpha team to bound. The entry fort was now visible ahead of them.

There were no more civilians outside of the wall and both gates were closed. On top of the wall, two teams of soldiers were setting up crew served weapons. One crew apparently spotted some threat, for one of the weapons started to fire off to the party's right. Behind them, the firing continued without slowing.

"More from the left!" Jaune shouted. Ruby spun and saw the blonde rush to back up Nora. Two more creeps and an ursa were charging. Fighting the urge to rush over and fight, the younger teen stayed at her position while Nora dispatched both creeps with two spinning blows and Jaune eliminated the ursa with three slashes and a thrust.

"Ahead of us!" Ren shouted. Looking that direction, Ruby saw a deathstalker rush along the wall before turning upon them, cutting off their path.

The soldiers on the wall were no fools; they had spotted the large grimm. While one weapon continued to rapid fire upon unseen attackers off to Team RNJR's right, the other trained on the giant scorpion and started to spit heavy rounds at a slow rate. Angered, the grimm turned on the wall and started to climb the smooth structure. The men on the top were unable to depress their weapon enough to continue firing on the creature.

"Ren, cover the flank!" Jaune yelled. "The rest of us, take out the deathstalker! Light it up when I get under it!" The blonde boy ran towards the grimm.

"When you what?" Nora demanded.

"Just trust me on this one!" Jaune yelled back. Ruby noticed that he was running faster than usual, another indication that he was gaining greater mastery of his aura.

Ruby and Nora exchanged a concerned glance, but nodded to each other. The younger teen planted Crescent Rose's point in the ground and sighted on the creature. When Jaune reached the wall, directly under it, he made a trigger pulling motion to the two girls and swung his blade, releasing a jolt of force up the side of the wall.

There were only had two grenades left in Manghild's chamber, but this was the place to use them. Nora fired both in quick succession at the giant scorpion while Ruby fired several rounds. Between the projectiles and the force striking it's grasping feet, the deathstalker was knocked free of the wall. For a moment, Ruby was afraid that Jaune was going to be crushed but the blonde managed to dive and tumble fairly gracefully, regaining his feet in a sprint and leading the angry grimm away from the entry fort.

"You need to clear the path quickly," Ren informed them. Ruby took a quick glance at the boy and discovered that he was faced off against two beowolves. More grim were visible in the distance. The soldier was breathing heavily but he showed no sign of faltering as he carried the wounded civilian, a testament to his conditioning.

"Nora, you have its head!" Jaune yelled. "Ruby, hit the stinger!"

The blonde turned on the deathstalker, parrying one of its pincers with a sword slash and kicking the other away from him. He blocked the stinger with his shield. Both girls saw their openings. Ruby moved first, using her semblance to zip by the creature, hacking at the joint where the stinger met the tail. The younger teen rebounded off of the wall and hacked at the joint again on her way back, chopping the stinger free from the tail. Now Nora arrived.

With a shout of pure joy, Nora vaulted into the air and performed a front flip, bringing Manghild down on the over-sized arthropod's head with devastating force. The deathstalker staggered back and flailed at her with its pincers. Jaune provided her defense, swatting one appendage away with his sword and blocking the other with his shield, allowing her to pirouette gracefully on one foot before unleashing another savage blow, right where she had hit the creature before. The carapace cracked open like an eggshell and the grimm sprawled on its belly, twitching feebly.

"Ren!" Nora yelped.

Her teammates looked up to see the object of her concern finish off his last opponent, giving the soldier and the two civilians an open path to the wall. The secondary gate opened and the burdened man staggered through, followed by the woman. Team RNJR, however, stayed outside.

"We have to keep the way open for the rest of the soldiers!" Ruby insisted.

The rest of the team nodded, even though Ren and Jaune were gasping for breath. The four set off back down the road again, determined to keep the route open for the retreating, Mistral men. Before they went a dozen strides they saw half the soldiers retreat and take up firing positions. Minutes later, the other half rushed past and the first group opened fire at grimm approaching from the distance. From the wall, one heavy weapon fired off to the right at targets those on the ground could not see while the other performed the same action to their left.

"Bravo team, to the wall!" The leader yelled. Half the soldiers rushed back to the wall itself, forming a semi-circle, centered on the secondary gate, facing outwards. The gate opened again.

"Alpha team, inside!" Came the next order. Team RNJR followed this group through the secondary gate. Now that they were close to the troops, Ruby noted that several of them sported wounds on their limbs. Still, the combination of armor, training, solid tactics and luck held; none of the men were incapacitated. Ruby had just enough time to note that an inner wall, with closed gates, prevented them from passing into the kingdom before the leader shouted again.

"Alpha call out!" He commanded.

"Alpha team all present!" One of the men responded.

"Bravo team, inside!" The leader bellowed. The men who were still outside rushed through the gate. All of the soldiers trained their weapons on the open gate.

"Bravo, call out!" The leader shouted.

"Bravo team all present!" Another man barked in return.

"Close the gate!" The leader roared.

Before the gate could close, a fast-moving creep rushed through the opening, only to be shredded by massed fire.

"Gate is secure!" A voice over a speaker declared.

"Open the inner gate!" The leader ordered. "All able bodied soldiers to the wall! All wounded to the infirmary! Huntsman party, stay here, I'll return in a few moments." The leader rushed through an inner doorway.

Now that things had calmed down, Ruby had the chance to look over her companions, remembering that Jaune had been in pain when they cleared the ridge. The blonde man was staring at his shield. With a shock, Ruby realized that a small hole had been punched through it. Judging where the shield would have been while he was holding it, she examined his armor and found a dent on the man's right side. The two shared a concerned look: What could punch through an aura-enhanced shield and then have enough power to dent aura-enhanced armor? Jaune pulled his scroll out and activated the device. Ruby saw the reading; his aura was still at over seventy percent.

The brunette girl and the blonde boy shared a concerned look: Whatever had hit him hadn't depleted his aura; it had punched through it.

"The grim are dispersing," the leader declared, returning to the team and breaking Ruby out of her musings. "I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I need to ask you your business in Mistral."

"We're former students from Beacon," Jaune told him. "We're hoping to apply to Haven to continue our training."

"Do you have any transcripts, or other identification from Beacon?" He asked. "I won't let you in without some sort of proof."

"Are the border guards always like this?" Nora demanded, as each of them pulled out their scrolls and called up their transcripts from the Huntsman Academy. "We just did you a favor out there!"

"It could be a very convenient favor," the leader countered, his face and eyes hard. "Rather convenient that the four of you just happen to be at a port of entry at the time it just happens to come under attack."

"That was not our intent," Ren told him, handing his scroll.

"If the four of you are what you claim to be, you'll have both my gratitude and apologies," The leader told them, scanning Ren's scroll with a larger device that he pulled from a pouch. He then proceeded to scan the other three.

"I can't afford to take chances," he continued. "You'll be detained here until I can have these transcripts confirmed by...what!?"

When he scanned Ruby's scroll, his own device sounded an alert and flashed a message to him. He looked them over with suspicious eyes before...

"Come with me, please," he ordered the teens. He then shouted, "Vakt! You're in charge until I take care of an issue!"

The team heard some sort of affirmation shouted from the top of the wall as the leader ushered them through an inner gate. Once through the inner wall, the team noted the civilians who were cued up outside the gate earlier. Some were being questioned by men in uniforms bearing the Mistral symbol, others such uniformed men were inspecting the contents of wagons and trucks.

"Are those civilians going to be okay?" Ruby asked their host. "How about the man who was wounded?"

"The civilians will be fine," he informed her, not sparing the activity a second glance. "If there can be a good thing about troubled times, it's that labor is in demand. Those refugees who are looking for safety will be evaluated for their skills and sent to where those skills will be in demand. Even labor is valuable at this time. The wounded man will be treated and when he's on his feet again, he'll be evaluated like all the rest. The traders will be allowed to make their deals and leave."

He led the way into a building that Ruby was pretty sure served as both a dining hall and a meeting area. The leader quickly made sure that they were alone.

"My name is lieutenant Arvaken," the told them, once he offered them seats at a long table. "The young lady's scroll had a code that tells me you are on business vital to Headmaster Lionheart of Haven Academy. My apologies for my earlier suspicions."

"You don't sound all that apologetic," Ren noted. "Yet, suspicion might be both a wise course of action as well as your duty."

The lieutenant offered a short nod, "My duty is to now speed your way to Mistral City and Haven. Hold out your scrolls, I'll scan a code into them that will give you free passage on any train. However, I have a favor to ask."

The four members of Team RNJR set their scrolls on the table. Ruby nodded for him to make his request.

"Please tell someone, anyone in Haven what's happening here," he asked, transferring code to each device in turn.

"I don't see how bandit and grimm attacks would go unnoticed," Ren countered.

"These aren't simple attacks," the lieutenant countered. "And this isn't the only border fort that's suffered them. The bandits attack civilians outside the walls, knowing that we won't just sit back and watch people get killed. They inflict painful, but not immediately fatal injuries then retreat. Of course, maimed people means the grimm show up and we wind up fighting them."

"Have you had many casualties?" Jaune asked.

"More than I care to count," he told them, his voice very quiet. "But more than that, they're burning up our supply of dust! Atlas has an embargo in place, so very little dust is getting to Mistral from there. Vacuo is a long way away, so most of their dust exports go to Vale. I have family in Mistral City; dust is getting very expensive as the supplies are being used."

"What?" He demanded, seeing the team exchange a concerned look.

"This is how it started in Vale," Ruby told him. "Only there, a thief was stealing all of the dust. Here, it looks like someone is manipulating soldiers into using it."

"And Atlas' embargo is making it worse," Nora added.

"So, Salem is using the same plan," Jaune grumbled. "Why not? It worked before."

"Who?" Lieutenant Arvaken asked.

"A name I probably shouldn't have said," Jaune told him. "An...agent...of the headmasters traveled with us for awhile. According to him, someone named Salem is trying to bring down civilization. He thought it was important enough that he gave us that code that let you know to pass us through."

"Fair enough," the Lieutenant nodded, after a few moments' thought. "We all have secrets we need to keep. I wish you luck, because I think a whole lot more than just killing grimm is involved here."

"I wish it wasn't up to us," Jaune admitted. "But as a smart man told us, you have to deal with the situation, not with what you want the situation to be."

Two hours later, team RJNR was seated in a comfortable train, watching the miles fly past on the way to Mistral City and Haven Academy. For some reason, Ruby couldn't shake the feeling that the easy part of the journey was over.

* * *

"Miss Xiao Long, there's someone here to see you."

No matter how many times she heard the title, Yang didn't think she would get used to it. When called 'Miss', it was supposed to be polite term from someone older, not a term of respect.

"Oh, who is it?" Yang asked. She was just finishing up her latest evaluations before heading home from work.

"She won't give her name, but she hardly looks respectable," the principal's assistant informed her, with a sniff. "Covered with grease and grime, you can hardly tell she's a female."

"Well, my family is known as being a little rough around the edges," Yang chuckled. "Send her in to see me. If the custodian complains about anything, I'll make him a batch of cookies."

The assistant tried not to smile at that last remark...but failed. She turned and vanished from the office door while Yang returned her attention to the evaluations.

"If someone had told me that _I_ would ever come to visit _you_ in your office and find you doing paperwork I would have said they were crazy."

The voice immediately grabbed Yang's attention. Looking up, her mouth open, she saw a short figure covered in a rough jacket and trousers. The clothing and the face were greasy and muddy, as was the battered dufflebag over one shoulder. If it wasn't for the familiar voice, Yang wouldn't have been able to recognize.

"Weiss!"

Yang didn't take the time to go around her desk; she jumped over her desk, rushed to the doorway and enfolded the smaller woman in a massive hug.

"I'm glad to see you too," Weiss managed to gasp out, her feet a good six inches above the floor. "But I still need to breathe!"

"I was so worried about you!" There were tears in Yang's eyes.

"Yes, but my ribs were never in danger of cracking until now," Weiss pointed out. "I'm starting to lose feeling in my arms!"

Yang's mind finally returned to the here and now. She released her friend, who dropped to the ground hard enough that her shoes made an audible click on the tiles, pulled her into her office and closed the door.

"So what brings you here?" Yang demanded. "Have you heard from Ruby or Blake?"

"Ruby and Blake are missing?" Weiss demanded in return.

"Well, yes!" Yang started to explain, then thought better of it. "What brings you here and in this...condition?" A wave of her arm indicated Weiss's...less than fashionable...attire.

"I'm officially a missing person," the Atlesian answered, with a smirk. "Or more accurately, I'm a runaway and I'm looking for someplace to lay low."

"So you want me to shelter you and defy all of the Schnee Dust Company's resources?" Yang glared at her. "Sounds like fun! Actually, the company will be nice. It's been just Zwei and me, so conversations have been a little lacking."

"Your father's gone?" Weiss was surprised again. "I thought you had a really close family!"

"We do," Yang answered, while gathering her notes and packing them in a satchel. "I'm done for the day, so why don't we head home so we can talk with a little more privacy?"

Seeing the wisdom of this suggestion, the disinherited teen accompanied the teacher. They left the Signal Academy Campus and walked to a market, where Yang picked up some extra food for dinner. After that, it was a twenty minute walk to the Xiao Long home...time that the two spent getting caught up with each other.

"So there's been no word from Ruby, the rest of Team JNPR, or Blake?" Weiss asked.

"I don't even know where Blake came from," Yang told her teammate. "Even after she warmed up to us, she wasn't very comfortable talking about her past. As for Ruby; well, I figured out where the ship dropped them off on Anima but that's it. All I know is that they're trying to get to Mistral and Haven. I don't know why they took a ship that dropped them off on the west coast. I don't know if they went overland from there or if they took another ship."

"And your dad?" Weiss asked.

"Just off on a mission somewhere," Yang shook her head. "I want to try to run down my sister but I have to stay here, in case she comes home."

The two walked the next couple of minutes in silence.

"So, just how did you get out of Atlas?" Yang asked. "I've read about the dust embargo and the Council closing the borders. You're an underage runaway and the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I'd figure your face would be on every billboard and scroll alert in the kingdom."

"Hence, my current attire and hygiene," Weiss pointed out. "I pawned off some of my smaller pieces of jewelry and bribed my way onto a smuggler ship."

"That was risky," Yang commented.

"Not really," Weiss shrugged. "I had to dish out a few cuts to let the crew know they weren't going to just take me back to my father and collect a reward but once I did that, we actually got along pretty well. Once I was in Vale, my face wasn't all that well knows so I was able to catch a ship to Patch. After that, I was looking up your name when I came across a newspaper article about you being a replacement faculty member."

"Oh, I read that article," Yang flinched. "Not exactly flattering, was it?"

"Well, no." Weiss admitted. "Something about having someone so unstable that she'd attack a guy she just beat at a tournament teaching the kids not being a great idea."

"Aw, the kids love me," Yang smiled.

"Yang, I didn't know where else to go," Weiss said, using her cover story. "I know that I'm putting you in danger by coming here."

"I'm not chasing you out," Yang assured her. "At the very least, we can figure out where you can go next."

"Thank you," while she was grateful for Yang's generosity, her heart dropped, knowing that the loyalty and compassion were being displayed in response to a lie.

"Anyway, maybe we should see if we can find work for you here, something to keep you busy." Yang suggested. "Once you turn eighteen, you won't have to keep things secre...someone's been in my house!"

"What?" Weiss demanded.

"There, that's my house," Yang pointed to a house.

Weiss took a moment to study the structure. It was made of logs, yet the windows and door were modern. It had a large chimney, suggesting a fireplace, even though she couldn't see a stack of firewood from the front. It was considerably larger than most of the houses that they had passed, even though it wasn't a fraction of the size of the mansion she had grown up in. There were a couple of outbuildings and everything, from the buildings to the lawn, was impeccably maintained. Weiss also noted that there were planters sporting sunflowers on the front; pretty, but an odd touch for a widower's home.

In short, it looked like a house that would be great to grow up in.

"How do you know?" Weiss asked her hostess.

"I left the porch lights on when I left," Yang answered, striding purposefully towards the building. "I didn't think I would be home until later and I hate trying to fit the key in the lock in the dark. The lights are off now." Yang broke into a run towards the front door.

"What kind of burglar is concerned with the electric bill?" Weiss questioned, as she fell in step behind her friend.

"The door is unlocked," Yang declared, upon trying the knob.

"I guess I wouldn't expect a burglar to lock up after himself," Weiss answered.

"Family type burglar's tend to be more considerate than most," another voice informed them. Looking to the side, the two young women spotted a tall and slender form.

"Uncle Qrow!" Yang burst out, before hurling herself towards the man.

"Yang, normal greetings probably aren't a good idea...ow!" The hunter's eyes flew wide when his niece hugged him.

As much as she despised the man, Weiss sympathized.

"Uncle Qrow?" Yang released the man, then quickly got under one of his arms to help support him. "What's wrong?"

"Took some hurts," he gasped. "And I brought a guest along."

As much as she tried to hide it, Weiss knew her eyes widened a little. Qrow was watching her at the time, so she was pretty sure she had just given something away.

"You were hurt?" Yang asked. "Have you seen Ruby? Do you know where dad went? Who's the guest? What's happening?"

"All in due time," the older man assured her. "For now, let's just say that my guest knows his way around a kitchen. He was preparing dinner for three, but if you run in and give him what you bought, I'm sure he'll be able to make it enough for four. I also think that the little ice sculpture here would like to clean up. I'm tempted to take a picture for her big sister."

"You recognized me?" Weiss gasped.

"It's my job," he offered her a condescending smile. "Kinda interesting, I just get here with my guest on the same day you arrive. Quite the coincidence, don't you think?"

"I, uh..."

"Why don't I give you the first go at the shower?" He suggested. "I think we're all going to have a long talk after dinner."

Weiss couldn't bring herself to argue. After scrubbing off the grease and grime, and putting on her usual clothing, she felt much more herself. Despite being a hooligan, Qrow wasn't lying about the newcomer, Ron, knowing his way around a kitchen. The food was excellent. After dinner, Ron cleared the table and insisted on doing the dishes, giving uncle and niece some time to catch up. Deciding that she couldn't just come out and ask Ron if he was from a different world, Weiss offered to help him.

She studied the young man while she dried the dishes he washed. From the shoulders and on down, he could be any fit young man. His facial features, however, were different. His nose was large and his mouth wider than was normal. He still had freckles at his age, which gave him a boyish look and his chin was rounded rather than pointed. These differences weren't glaring but they made him look...unusual. When he looked at her, she noted that his eyes were a darker shade of brown than normal.

Weiss quickly looked away with a slight blush, realizing that she must have been staring at the young man.

"So, Ron," she tried to start a conversation. "Where are you from?"

"Someplace a lot farther than Anima," he told her. "I can't really describe it."

"Was it a pleasant trip to Sanus? I've heard that the seas can be rough."

"It was nerve-wracking," he answered, draining the wash water. "For some reason, the ship kept springing leaks and having engine trouble."

Weiss didn't have any idea how to continuing the conversation without appearing to be grilling him, so she contented herself with a slight, sympathetic hum before drying the last of the dishes. The chore completed, the two returned to the dining room, where Qrow and Yang were still talking. Clearly, Yang wasn't happy with some of the answers she was hearing.

"I still don't understand why you didn't bring her back with you," she glared at her uncle. "She's only sixteen! For that reason, if you wanted her to go to Haven, why didn't you give her the lien to take a ship to the north coast?"

"It's complicated," Qrow protested. "And there's more to it than I can tell you at this time. Anyway, your guests are here and I think a little truth is in order. Snowflake, Ron, have a seat."

This time, Weiss's humph was of indignity rather than sympathy, but she followed the suggestion.

"Ron," Qrow instructed the younger man. "Tell them the whole story."

While Weiss payed close attention to the story Ron told, she watched Yang from the corner of her eye. The golden-haired young woman didn't snort in disbelief, but she was clearly skeptical. Finally, Ron finished his tale.

"I'm wasn't convinced at first, either," Qrow told the two, skeptical young women. "But all four of your classmates witnessed him overpower the beringal and the boarbatusk, with no aura. I saw him break a tree into sections, barehanded, with no aura."

"So I take it you believe the story?" Yang asked.

"I have a few doubts," Qrow admitted. "Tomorrow, I'm going to take Ron to Beacon and have a talk with Professor Oobleck..."

"Doctor Oobleck," both Yang and Weiss corrected him.

"Okay, doctor," Qrow shrugged. "I've got some ideas to bounce off of the the guy. Anyway, does anyone else here have anything to say?" The last statement was delivered with a smirk towards Weiss.

She took the hint.

"Yang, I ran away from my father," Weiss admitted. "But I had help from Headmaster Ironwood getting to Vale."

She told her friend the whole story. She couldn't meet Yang's gaze when she finished.

"So it was a lie," Yang finally said. "Were you ever going to tell me the truth if Qrow didn't back you into a corner?"

"I..." she started, only to have the older man interrupt her.

"Don't take it out on her," he suggested to his niece. "She wanted out of Atlas, Ironwood wanted someone to check out Ron here and I'm willing to bet she was more than happy to see you again. Weren't you happy to see her?"

"Well, yes." Yang admitted.

"And if we can convince the snowflake here that Ron's story just might be true, then she probably has some contacts to smuggle him back to Atlas, which is exactly where he needs to go."

"So, how do I go about convincing people that I'm telling the truth?" Ron asked.

"First, I want Yang and the snowflake..."

"Quit calling me that!"

"Okay, Yang and Weiss," Qrow corrected himself, smirking at the white-haired girl. "will pull out their scrolls and scan you for aura. I know we've done it before, but I'm sure Jimmy gave his spy here a special scroll to do the scanning."

Both young women did as requested, Weiss with an irritated look at Qrow.

"No aura," Yang reported. Weiss nodded her agreement.

"Okay, let's go outside," Qrow told his audience. "I notice that there's a dead tree that Taiyang has to remove from just outside his property line. Why don't we let Ron show us his way of turning a tree into firewood?"

Both Yang and Weiss were intrigued by what a Mystical Monkey Power enhanced individual was capable of doing. After Ron dropped the tree and rendered it into firewood, Qrow had Yang spar against him. It was a harsh match and while Ron was eventually dropped onto the ground, Yang had to work very hard to manage it.

"And he does it without aura," she murmured.

"Getting closer to being convinced?" Qrow asked Weiss.

"It's a far-fetched story," Weiss retorted. "But I don't have any other way of explaining what I'm seeing."

"Okay," Qrow nodded. "I want you to do the next step. Actually, it will be doing him a favor, as well. I'm going to have you awaken his aura."

"Didn't you say something about a side effect?" Ron demanded.

"Side effect?" Both Yang and Weiss demanded of the older man.

"Nothing you need to worry about," he assured them. "At least not for several more years."

"Dad said that it wasn't a good idea for inexperienced hunters and huntresses to awaken aura," Yang pointed out.

"Look, kids," Qrow told them. "I'm not exactly fond of the snowflake's headmaster or her family, but I'm not about to allow her to come to any harm right here. Trust me, I'll work her through this. So Ron, Weiss, are you game?"

"I'm willing to try, if it will help prove or disprove the story," Weiss told the older man.

"It will," Qrow told her. "Ron?"

"You're saying that this will make me a better fighter?" The younger man asked.

"It will be a sort of weightless armor at first," Qrow told him. "So yes, that will happen right away. As you continue to work with your aura, you'll get faster, stronger and more agile."

"Okay, I've seen Team RNJR do things that were absolutely amazing," Ron nodded. "I'm game."

"Very well," Qrow announced. The older man stood straight, as a soldier standing at attention. All trace of his usual mockery vanished.

"Ronald Stoppable," he said, his tone formal. "Do you agree to have your aura unlocked, to use it to protect the innocent and helpless and to stand against the forces of darkness?"

"Yes," Ron agreed, feeling like he did when Master Sensei first showed him the Lotus Blade.

"Weiss Schnee," he addressed the huntress with the same, respectful tone. "Do you agree to awaken this young man's aura, to unlock his potential and bear the burden of responsibility for this force in the world?"

"I do," Weiss replied.

"Very well," Qrow intoned. "Ronald, close your eyes and concentrate on why you want to unlock your aura. Concentrate on the good you will do by standing between darkness and the innocent, concentrate on how strength will make your virtue shine brighter to drive back the dark."

Ron closed his eyes and a look of peaceful determination came over his features.

"Weiss, place your right hand on his heart, from whence his aura flows," Qrow instructed the young woman. "And your left hand on the side of his head, which directs and controls his aura."

Weiss did as directed.

"Weiss Schnee, activate your aura and channel it into Ronald," Qrow instructed. "While your aura seeks his, speak the words."

Weiss felt her soul reach out and connect with the young man. Almost unbidden, the words that had implanted themselves onto her very self, years ago, emerged from her lips.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality," she intoned. "Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

Suddenly, she felt her aura flow into Ron, draining her yet it wasn't an unpleasant sensation. Contact was made and in that moment of his soul manifesting itself, she gained a glimpse into his deepest self and knew that he gained a glimpse into hers, as well.

Drained to exhaustion, she collapsed but strong arms surrounded her, supporting her. She opened her eyes to see Ron's concerned and amazed face, surrounded by a brown glow that matched the color of those eyes that caught her own.

"It's all true," she murmured, _**knowing**_ that his unlikely story had actually happened.

"So lonely," he whispered in return.

For the first time in her life, she knew that someone actually understood her isolation and the longing for friends that she had managed to lock away for so long. The brown eyes that held hers showed no sign of wanting to take advantage of that simple human desire to be part of a group; they held understanding, sympathy and an offer of friendship, instead.

Then her eyes were too heavy to keep open. Darkness claimed her mind, but it was a warm, comforting and restful darkness.

Her last sensation was of those strong arms refusing to let her fall.

* * *

 _A/N: Before getting long winded, please let me thank everyone who has reviewed and PM'd me about this tale. I'm sure that those of you who also write will agree with me that reviews and PM discussions go a long way towards keeping up the motivation to keep writing. Even just a few words can make the difference between devoting a couple of hours of free time to writing, or finding something else to do._

 _I'd also like to thank Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading assistance. Again, for those of you who have never beta read for another author, let me assure you that it can be a great deal of effort. These couple of sentences don't express my appreciation near enough._

 _For those still interested in reading my comments, I'd like to address a couple of reviews and PMs that I have received, stating that Ron is acting out of character, not acting panicked enough and showing a little too much knowledge. In this reality, when Kim went to Europe to continue her education, several of the villains thought that North America would be ripe for operations. Ron was forced to perform hero work without Kim and that forced him to change his perspective a little. He was forced to listen to Wade before the mission._

 _In the first chapter, I wrote that Ron had a near disaster going up against Motor Ed. After this, he realized that listening to the research that Wade put in before a mission was important. He doesn't understand the details of the high-tech weapons and devices the criminals have, but he understands their consequences. Thus, he knew that Dementor had a zero point energy generator and understood that because of this, firearms didn't work in the lair. Now that he realizes Remnant uses dust, he can guess that dust might work where a chemical explosive wouldn't. He's also capable of realizing that dust rounds don't seem to have quite the same speed and impact as the rounds that fire from Earth's weapons. Does this mean he has suddenly become super intelligent? No, he doesn't know the physics behind the generator and he wouldn't recognize one if he saw it. He doesn't realize how much faster a bullet moves compared to a dust round, he only knows that huntsmen can often dodge or deflect dust rounds where on Earth, dodging a bullet is more a saying than a reality._

 _This isn't to complain about receiving a negative review. Far from it, I appreciate correction and comment. However, I personally believe that a character should be capable of growing and adapting during a story. Between the end of Kim Possible's "Graduation" and the start of this tale, Ron had been forced to confront several villains as a solo hero. He had also been forced to earn and maintain a football scholarship, so a certain dedication had to have manifested itself. What I'm trying to say is that while Ron Stoppable at the beginning of this tale resembles Ron Stoppable at the end of "Graduation", the reality he lived had already forced some changes onto him._

 _I encourage anyone to feel free to comment, even negatively. This wasn't an effort to complain about negative reviews or PMs. Rather this was an effort to let you, the reader, know how our goofy sidekick had changed, without going through the character development on Earth before he was transported to Remnant._

 _That said, please accept my best wishes;_

 _daccu65_


	8. Chapter 8

Pale blue eyes opened in the dim light. Weiss looked around the room, noting the polished wood walls and floor and decided that she must be in the room that Yang and Ruby had shared while growing up. Sunlight, dimmed by curtains, provided enough light for her to observe her surroundings. Even though this room was only a fraction of the size of hers in the Schnee mansion, the bed was much smaller and the blankets nowhere near as soft, she felt more at home in these few minutes of contemplation than she had in seventeen years back there.

Noting that the other bed in the room was both unoccupied and made, she decided that she must have had a long, restful sleep. Thinking about it, she felt invigorated; like she had put in a successful workout and training session the evening prior...a workout that was intense up to the point of leaving her sore the next day, but not quite there. Now that she was awake, she felt energized, eager to face the day. She got out of bed, noting that her shoes and dufflebag had been left close by, and padded to the window.

The morning sun shone brightly on the new day. Large trees surrounded the property and provided a sense of open privacy; the sort that welcomed visitors but allowed the occupants to act freely, knowing that their secrets where safe. Again, Weiss's memory recalled the sprawling, Schnee Estate and she realized that the Xiao Long household felt more like home than where she had grown up. Down on the lawn, Yang and Ron were squared off against each other while Qrow and Zwei watched. Scooping up her shoes and Myrtenaster, she rushed out of the room to join them.

Reaching the impromptu contest, she started to pull her shoes on but stopped, enjoying the feel of the grass on her bare feet. She dropped the footwear by a log and joined Qrow and Zwei. Yang was just initiating a major offensive against Ron. She came on with a blistering barrage of rapid punches, which Ron proved very adept at dodging, blocking or simply retreating out of range before Yang could connect.

"Your first day with and active aura," the yellow-haired woman taunted her opponent with a grin. "You're going to learn that aura can protect you from damage but not from pain!"

Yang came on again and after a flurry, managed to get a punch through Ron's defense and clip the side of his head. Ron spun to the ground and scissored Yang's legs with his own, dropping her on her face. Both combatants scrambled to their feet.

"You're gonna pay for that one," she growled, the threat softened by her huge smile.

She came on with a side kick followed by a back-fist. Ron dodged both strikes before unleashing a series of snap-kicks and quick punches, which Yang swatted away. The strikes proved to be a feint; Ron had shifted his foot far enough forward to hook her ankle with his. The newcomer pulled her off balance but she didn't flail wildly. She dropped to the ground and rolled, avoiding Ron's stomp-kick. She rolled again, then performed a backwards handspring, barely avoiding a pair of kick's from Ron. With her feet firmly under her, she swatted a punch away and sprinted forward, burying her shoulder in the young man's stomach.

The breath blasted out of Ron's lungs as Yang drove him backwards. The golden-haired young woman aimed at a tree, seeking to slam her opponent's back into the trunk. Ron kicked his feet back and got his legs between his torso and the tree, giving Yang the problem of trying to compress a running back's leg muscles. For over a minute, they strained against each other and Weiss wondered what would give out first; Yang's legs, Ron's legs or the tree.

Ron broke the stalemate be reaching down and tickling Yang's exposed midriff.

With a yelp, Yang lurched back while Ron first dropped to his belly then jumped to his feet. Qrow snickered and Weiss clapped a hand over her mouth, not wanting to be seen guffawing. Yang's eyes flashed red for a moment then she came on with a growl. Ron assumed a balanced stance and met her charge with a kick. When Yang blocked it, he dropped that foot to the ground, ducked under her punch, spun on his lead foot and delivered an elbow to Yang's jaw. The young woman staggered back two steps, her eyes flashed red again and she came back with a vengeance. This time, Ron didn't attempt an offense of his own, he gave way and blocked as she threw a flurry of powerful punches. Twice, he reached in and tapped her forehead, driving her to further rage. Weiss was about to shout at them to take a break, but Qrow's hand stopped her.

Yang was now using sheer strength, throwing punches so powerful that no block could stop them. Ron countered with subtle shifts of his head and body, managing to dodge the strikes by mere centimeters. Then, when Yang threw one more punch, he dropped into a deep squat, allowing the fist to pass harmlessly over his head. He jumped and performed a back flip with one foot extended, catching Yang squarely on the chin.

The force of the blow lifted the young woman completely off of her feet. She arced through the air and came down on her belly. For a few, endless moments she lay still. Weiss began to suspect something serious before the golden-haired girl put her hands on the ground and pushed off, throwing herself back to her feet.

Her eyes were red and her hair flared around her head. Weiss swore she could see flames shooting from her friend's body as Yang slammed her fists together. Responding to this, Ron's eyes suddenly turned yellow and a blue haze, vaguely monkey-shaped, came into being around him. Both combatants roared and charged each other. Even several feet away, Weiss could feel the shock when the two crashed together.

Yang led off with a punch from her cybernetic arm, which Ron caught in his left hand. Ron responded with a right-handed punch, which Yang caught in her left hand. Then it was a stalemate as both strained against the other. Under their feet, the sod tore, unable to withstand the forces contending against each other. Yang suddenly dropped to the ground, releasing Ron's right fist. The young man's strike buzzed through her hair but she managed to bury an elbow into his belly as he lurched over her. That strike both knocked the wind out of him and halted his momentum, allowing her to unleash a double kick into his torso, lofting him into the air.

Yang was on her feet in a moment, jumping into the air to where Ron was flailing his arms and trying to orient himself to the ground. He was unable to defend himself as Yang delivered a double-handed hammer blow, driving him into the ground. The impact with Remnant drove the air from Ron's with a noise that sounded like a duck's quack and sent a shock that the three onlookers could feel in their feet. Ron's aura sparkled brown around him as it failed and Yang landed next to him. Qrow heaved himself to his feet as Weiss opened her mouth to call for a halt, but such intervention was unnecessary. Yang's eyes returned to their normal color and she staggered, gasping for breath, away from her writhing opponent. The victorious girl dropped to one knee.

"Here," Qrow shoved a towel into Weiss's hand. "Go have a word with your boy, I'll have a word with my niece."

"He's not my..." Weiss started to protest, to no avail. Qrow had already picked up a towel and was making is way to where Yang was lowering herself into a sitting position, chest heaving to take in enough air. Swallowing a slight growl of irritation, Weiss approached Ron, who had just rolled himself over onto his back. She handed the gasping young man the towel, and he weakly wiped off his face while trying to catch his breath. When he tried to sit up, she gave him a hand.

Weiss admitted to herself that she was a little pleased to see the surprise in his eyes. Most people assumed that because she was pale and petite, she was somehow frail. While she wasn't a bruiser like Yang or Nora, she was easily strong enough to pull the young man into a sitting position. She knelt next to him, allowing him to lean back against her knee while he recovered from both the beating and the exertion.

"Is...everyone...in...this...world...able...to...whip...my...aa...er...butt?" He gasped.

"Yang has been a combat student for five years...officially," she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Her father's an instructor, so she grew up with it. Of course she's good."

His breathing grew less desperate and more deep and regular. Soon, with her help, he was able to struggle to his feet. Weiss guided him to the same tree Yang had tried to crush him against so he had something to lean on. Across the yard, Qrow was just getting Yang onto her feet. Lurching to her opponent, the golden-haired brawler offered a hand to the young man. When he accepted it, she pulled him in for a quick hug.

"That was one heck of a fight," she told him. "I'm looking forward to a lot of rematches."

Ron looked a little less enthusiastic.

"So what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Weiss asked.

"Well, I'd like to take the new boy here to what's left of Beacon," Qrow answered. "I'm sure Professor Oobleck would like to have a long talk with him."

"Doctor Oobleck," Both Yang and Weiss corrected the older man.

"Okay, doctor," Qrow grinned at them. "I also want to talk to the doctor. Maybe the two of you would like to visit Vale and get a little shopping in. We've got the lien, so Ron can use a proper scroll and a change of clothing, something that blends in a little bit. The snowflake here is also going to have to talk to her contacts to set up a trip home."

"What?" Weiss was too confused by the question to complain about her nickname.

"You said you're convinced his story is true," Qrow reminded her. "You have to set up your return trip and I'm pretty sure your contact is going to be in Vale."

"Well, yes," she admitted.

"Don't worry about it," he smirked. "When we get to Beacon, I'll let the two of you head off and do whatever you want. I won't follow you, so your contact will remain covert."

"I'm just..." she stammered.

"Not used to someone giving you the time you need to perform your spy duties?" He asked. His smirk had become impudent.

"It was supposed to be a secret mission!" She insisted.

"Kid, I knew why you were here!" His smile seemed to be genuine. "Who do you think passed the word to Jimmy?"

"Well..."

"Look, we're all on the same side here. Now, why don't we get a meal in us and head to Vale? I'm sure it will take a couple of days, at least, for your contact to set up the trip. In the meantime, we can make some more plans."

"I can handle the food," Ron told them. He was still a little unsteady on his feet, but he walked into the house without assistance.

"It's time for you to do some form work," Qrow told Weiss. "I bet you didn't do anything while you were on the boat. Your big sister will be madder at me than normal if you let your skills slip."

While Weiss went through her routines, Yang stood next to her uncle.

"Why did you have her awaken Ron's aura last night?" She asked, in a very quiet voice.

"Like I said, it takes some effort," Qrow told her. "I wasn't up to it."

"Okay, but why not me, or one of the instructors at Signal?" Yang persisted. "I saw that she was tired, but there was a look they shared, as well. Why did dad always say that it wasn't a good idea for someone who wasn't experienced to awaken a soul?"

"You're slightly off balance!" Qrow called to Weiss. "You leaned too far to your left, probably because you're doing this barefoot, rather than in heels."

Weiss glared at Qrow, but she corrected her form.

"When you awaken someone's aura, your souls sort of merge for a moment," Qrow told his niece. "Instructors are trained to awaken aura while keeping the whole thing distant. Someone who isn't trained to do it...well..."

"Are you saying!" Yang snapped, before getting herself under control. "Are you saying that you tricked Weiss into falling in love with him?"

"Not at all," Qrow told her. "Weiss, extend a little farther with that lunge. You're a little shorter without your heels on, so you have to compensate."

This time, Weiss didn't glare before correcting her form.

"She got a solid glimpse into Ron's soul, his core beliefs," Qrow continued, in a quieter voice to his niece. "If she liked what she saw...hey, who am I to stand in the way?"

"So it was to tweak Winter and General Ironwood?" Yang demanded.

"It was to give Jimmy exactly what he wanted," Qrow retorted. "He wanted to know if Ron's story panned out. Weiss got a glimpse of what Ron is all about and she knows that he was telling the truth. She isn't avoiding him, so I'd have to say that he's a good guy, back on this Earth place he talks about. Add it all together and not only is it safe for her to take him back to Atlas, it's worth Jimmy putting some brain power on the situation."

"Of course, if big sister gets tweaked about little sister enjoying the kid's company, who am I to complain?" He added, after a moment.

"Weiss is my friend!" Yang growled at her uncle. "And I owe General Ironwood for having this arm made and delivered." She held up the aforementioned arm. "You're treating her feelings as a joke!"

"Not hardly," he countered. "If Ron had proven to be some sort of vagabond, some shady creep, she would have known it and she would have told us. Now, the few times I've primed someone's aura, I was trained to make it a little impersonal, but those who've done it without the training say say it's kind of like spending a couple of years really getting to know someone. Besides, she got something out of the exchange, as well."

"What, confused feelings?" Yang glared at the man.

"No, a slight increase in aura," he answered. "When you awaken another soul, it increases yours. Sort of like the bad, romantic poetry that claims you get back twice what you give. Only in this case, it's true. Her aura has been increased a little."

"Wait a minute!" Yang's eyes flew wide. "Dad awoke most of the aura's at Signal! It was a sort of ceremony for completing the third year! Does that mean dad..."

"You could break mountains on your old man's aura," Qrow exaggerated...a little.

"So where is he?" Yang demanded.

"I don't know," Qrow admitted. "I can only say that he's following a trail. Where that trail will lead to...well, there's no sense in sending anyone out following a trail if you already know were it goes, is there?"

"You jerk!"

"Hey, kiddo, I tell it like I see it," he shrugged.

"One last question," Yang stared at him. "Last night, Ron said something about a side affect to an awakened aura. What is it?"

"Nothing you need to worry about for a few years yet," he repeated his answer from last night.

"That's not good enough," Yang retorted. "Not anymore! I've already paid the price, whatever it is, why not let me know?"

"Because you're a chatterbox," Qrow told her.

For a few moments, Qrow relished the absolute shock on his niece's face.

"Look, kid," he tried to mollify her. "I didn't agree with Oz. He said that this needed to stay secret and I always wanted to tell people. I'm going to follow his instructions and keep my mouth shut. Now, in a few years time, say when you're about twenty-five, look me up and depending on where you're at with your life, I might tell you. In the meantime, you're just too fond of talking with friends."

"Uncle Qrow, I'm pretty sure that I've been through enough for you to consider me an adult." She informed him.

"Most adults don't know," Qrow told her. "Look, do you think that there's some conspiracy that you join when you hit twenty-one? Kid, this is something that only the headmasters and a very few selected others know. Unless you catch me sober, there's no way I'm letting my mouth run away on me again. Let it drop and come talk to me when you're about six years older."

"I'm still not happy about this," Yang informed him.

"That's part of being a huntress," Qrow countered. "You don't have to like it, you just have to deal with it. Now, what's your opinion of Ron's fighting?"

"He's good," Yang admitted. "I don't know how he'd do with weapons, but hand to hand, he's awfully good. That monkey power he claims to have must give him one heck of a boost. As it is, he's better than most first-year students at Beacon; better than Mercury. Once he starts really making use of his aura, he's going to be a force."

"I thought so," the huntsman nodded. "I wish your father were here. Ron seems to be a hand-to-hand sort, and nobody can do that like your old man."

"I was beating him before he left!" Yang informed her uncle.

The look Qrow gave the young woman spoke volumes about his opinion on that.

"Let's see what Ron's managed for breakfast," he suggested, instead of arguing. "After that, we can head to the airship terminal."

It didn't take long before the four were on the airship, heading for Vale. While Ron looked with a certain curiosity at the frozen dragon on the side of beacon tower, the other three looked at it with a great deal of sadness. In flight, Qrow slipped to the far end of the passenger compartment to have a discrete scroll conversation with Dr. Oobleck. He rejoined the rest of the party shortly before landing.

"The hyperactive doctor has an office in Vale," he instructed the younger folk with him. "He gave me the address, so Ron and I will be heading there. You girls have the list of equipment we'll need for Ron. It should only take you a few minutes to get the stuff and you'll have the rest of the time to make your illegal arrangements and enjoy yourselves. I have a feeling Dr. Oobleck is going to be talking to Ron for a very long time. We'll meet back here for the evening flight back to Patch."

Ron looked very uncomfortable at the way the two girls smirked at him about the day's plans, but decided if it was going to get him home, he'd do it. As soon as they landed, Qrow ushered him along several streets, stopping at a liquor store to restock his own supply. After that, they made their way to a warehouse district near the docks. Qrow used his scroll as a navigation device and led Ron to the personal door of a rather small warehouse. Inside, temporary partitions had been set up, converting the open space into crude offices.

"Qrow Branwen!" A husky man, sporting a thick mustache and wearing a dark red suit, greeted Ron's guide. "Good to see you. I trust your adventures have gone well?"

"The could have been better and the could have been worse," Qrow admitted, clasping wrists with the man.

"Perhaps introductions are in order," the man's voice was low and his speech slow and deliberate.

"Professor Port, may I introduce Ronald Stoppable, a young man with a very interesting story," Qrow placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Ron, this is Peter Port, a part time huntsman and full time professor here at Beacon."

"I'm afraid that Beacon isn't here," the older man declared, shaking Ron's hand with a firm grip. "We have moved our administrative offices into this warehouse while we continue to rebuild the proper campus. Soon, we will call our students together and drive the grimm from our institution."

"Nice to meet you, professor," Ron tried to show proper manners.

"What reason does a young man like yourself have for following a dusty old crow around?"

"I'm supposed to meet someone here," Ron admitted. "I believe it's a Professor Oobleck."

"DOCTOR Oobleck!" Another voice, this one rapid and excited, preceded a very tall and rangy man into the central area. "So this is the young man, Mr. Branwen? Well, I'm very excited to meet him! This is an unprecedented opportunity...UNPRECEDENTED! Shall we get started?"

"Uh, sure?" Ron replied.

"EXCELLENT! Come with me! We'll start with your basic education, how do your kingdoms teach their citizens to read, perform basic math, communicate? After that we will go on to how you choose a career, how the government interacts with the military and the citizenry! I'm incredibly excited!"

Moving in a blur, the doctor prodded Ron down a temporary hallway to a haphazardly furnished interim office. The young blonde man had only a moment to give Qrow a pleading glance, and get only a smirk in return, before he was seated on one side of the desk.

"Very well, young man," the doctor activated a recording scroll. "Describe your basic education, what do you learn when?"

"Peter," Qrow asked the professor, once Ron was clear of the area. "Is Glynda available?"

"She's right behind you," the softer voice, from behind his back, informed the huntsman that the current headmistress was present.

"Glynda," he greeted her, turning around. There was no trace of his usual impertinence as he addressed her. "I have a mystery that's a little beyond me."

"So your messages informed me," she fixed him with a steady gaze. "Still, I wonder why you brought this young man with you, if it were the case."

"I'm mostly convinced of his story," Qrow admitted.

"And you were before you brought him to Patch," the older woman deduced, gesturing him into her temporary office. "Otherwise he would still be outside of the kingdom."

"You also manipulated the Schnee girl into awakening his aura," she continued, indicating that he should be seated. "As much as I disapprove of your lifestyle, I cannot believe that you would do this if you thought he was a danger."

"Innocent as charged," he shrugged, showing his insubordinate smirk once again. "Doing so confirmed that the boy's a good guy."

"And potentially irritated her older sister," Glynda pointed out.

"That was a secondary consideration," Qrow insisted. "The girl is Jimmy's agent. This way, he's going to hear directly from her experience, not from her observation. It was the only way to convince him."

Glynda merely continued to stare at him.

"Okay, I was thinking of giving big sister a shot across the bow, as well," he admitted.

"Very well, we seem to be reaching a bit of honesty," Glynda observed. "Now, what further doubts do you have."

"What if the kid's a spy and doesn't know it?" Qrow asked.

Again, Glynda simply stared at him. Eventually, the huntsman started to squirm under the gaze.

"I know it's crazy," he admitted at last. "But so was seizing control of the Atlesian mechs. So was blasting a hole into Vale. So was the horror show that was the Vytal Festival. Our enemy has been working on her plans for a damned long time, why not eighteen, nineteen years?"

"What would she gain?" The huntress asked.

"This device, the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer, will wind up in an Atlesian Laboratory," Qrow told her. "What if it's really some sort of bomb? What if it's a reference point for someone who can open portals? If that's the case, Salem could either blow up Remnant's most advanced research facilities, or maybe flood them with grimm or traitors. A lot of very smart people could be lost, as well as the facilities themselves."

"And you're looking for me to contradict your suspicions," she concluded. "What evidence do you have?"

"Here," he passed over his scroll. "The data transfer between his device, which he calls a Kimmunicator, and scrolls doesn't work. I had to record while playing these files, or just photograph images on his screen."

"That sounds monotonous," she commented.

"It helped pass the time on a sea voyage," he shrugged. "Tell me what you think, without me telling you what to look for."

Glynda gave him a tight, knowing, and approving, grin before setting to her task.

Knowing that it would take at least an hour, probably a couple, for the headmistress to review the files, Qrow excused himself and spoke with Peter Port about current affairs in the world. Receiving both good and bad news, the huntsman wandered towards Doctor Oobleck's office. Before he got there, he overheard the excitable man grilling the newcomer about economic and political interactions on his home planet. Qrow shook his head as Oobleck directed the conversation towards astronomy, then broached the subject of family dynamics. Feeling something like pity for the young man, whose voice was starting to weaken, Qrow wandered back towards Glynda's temporary office. The door opened as he approached, which Qrow attributed to "teachers' hearing" and she ushered him inside.

"I believe his story," Glynda told him. "The video recordings and images show just over a dozen individuals. Almost all of these individuals show the same, unusual characteristics that he does; small eyes, rounded facial features and large mouths and noses. Most of the females have very prominent lips. I do not believe that anyone, even Salem, could raise a young man for nineteen years and expose him only to those who have such unusual, physical traits."

"I was thinking the same thing," Qrow told her. "But I wanted some confirmation."

"I also noted that there were no faunas in these recordings or images," Glynda pointed out.

"I forgot about that," Qrow admitted. "He talked about the lack of faunas on his world and said something about some villain that he fought...some Monkeyfist guy...who contended with him over his Mystical Monkey Power. This guy had monkey hands and feet, but it was due to some whacked scientist using surgery and genetics to provide them."

"So he has met no faunas in his life," Glynda continued. "We know he's telling the truth because of young Miss Schnee. We also know that our enemy makes extensive use of faunas, and the bigotry between the races. There is one other item."

"Which is?" Qrow prompted.

"The moon." She answered.

"Okay, he says that his isn't broken," Qrow shrugged. "A good story, but what about it?"

"The moon appears in four of his files," she answered. "In no case does it appear to be broken, but not all of it is visible in every picture."

"Bart's talking to him about Astronomy," Qrow noted. "Maybe some talking about that later will clear this up."

"It will be an interesting intellectual exercise, but I can't see how it will change my opinion," she offered a tight smile. "I believe we have a young man from another world...possibly even another reality. When does he leave for Atlas?"

"It depends on Jimmy's contact," Qrow admitted. "Do you want to have some conversations with him?"

"As busy as I am, not a chance," she answered. "But Doctor Oobleck is likely to wear him out." She paused for a moment. "Now that you're back in the kingdom, what are you going to do?"

"Probably see if I can get my old job at Signal back," he shrugged. "I'm not up to fighting right now, but I can still instruct. I have a bad feeling that we're going to be needing an awful lot of fighters in the months and years to come."

Qrow tired easily now, so he spent the rest of the day taking it easy in a Vale park. As the sun lowered in the west, he returned to the temporary offices to pry an extremely fatigued and frazzled Ron from Doctor Oobleck's clutches. Unfortunately for the younger man, the hyperactive doctor pried a promise from Qrow to provide him with the newcomer's scroll code, so the interviews could continue.

While the ladies were talkative and bore several bags, when they met up at the airship terminal, they both showed a little tension in their faces. Still, they were clearly in good moods, discussing the day's activities and getting Ron started on customizing his scroll. It wasn't until they had exited the aircraft and walked partway to the Xaio Long house; well away from inadvertent ears, that Weiss spoke up.

"Three weeks," she told the others. "In three weeks, I have to be ready to move when they call me. Ron and I will only have a day to get there."

"Smugglers don't follow governments' schedules," Qrow nodded his understanding. "The ship will sail when the cargo, and those waiting for it, are ready."

"So what do I do in the meantime?" Ron asked.

"Settle down, kid," Qrow told him. "Even when you get there, the scientists are going to have to unravel technology from another world. I'm no scientist and neither are you, but we should be able to agree that three weeks isn't going to be much of a delay, all things considered."

"But what's been going on back home?" Ron almost wailed. "My parents! My sister! KP! They don't know that I'm alive! They don't know that I've found friends here!"

"And they won't until the eggheads in Atlas figure out how to send you back," Qrow countered him. "The best you can do is to keep your mouth shut, so nobody else figures out what you are!"

"What?" Ron demanded.

"Look, kid," Qrow sighed. "Vale and Atlas aren't exactly getting along right now. I know that Atlas didn't attack Vale, but not many other people realize that. The images of the Atlesian knights gunning down civilians in Vale holds a lot more weight than my words. If some Vale Official learns that you are trying to reach Atlas _and_ taking a piece of potentially valuable technology there, do you think you'll be able to leave? You'll be imprisoned and interrogated in a way that makes your discussion with Professor Oobleck look pleasant."

"Doctor Oobleck," both Yang and Weiss corrected.

"So what you do in the meantime, is live." Qrow told the young man, while sparing an irritated scowl at the two young women. "You showed you're pretty good in a hand-to-hand fight, but I don't know how you'd be going up against someone with a weapon. It turns out that the little ice princess is pretty good with that rapier of hers."

"Hey!" Weiss complained, confused at having been insulted and complimented in the same breath.

"You've also never gone up against a semblance other than Yang's," Qrow continued.

"Semblance?" Ron asked.

"See, you have a lot to learn," the huntsman told him. "You're going to spend the next three weeks learning as much as you can about this world and yourself. Yang has a full time job at Signal Academy and I'm going to be going back, the day after tomorrow. We're going to help you hone your fighting techniques, teach you weapons so you can select one to master and teach you about this world. You'll hone your aura and maybe we can learn your semblance. But you won't just be learning, you're going to instruct, as well."

"Instruct?" Yang asked.

"Tomorrow morning, I'm going to have Ron introduce the two of you to something he calls the conditioning drill."

Yang and Weiss were both very uneasy with Ron's groan and Qrow's smirk.

* * *

"I'm just saying that we should see if the rumors are true," Ruby insisted to her team.

"Are you sure you just don't want to check out the weapons shops here in Mistral City?" Norma challenged her. "You know, check out all the cute blades and barrels, run your hands along the stocks and the pommels? See how they're all so exotically different from the ones you're used to back in Vale?"

For a moment, Ruby eyes glazed over and she got a dreamy expression on her face, but she quickly shook her head.

"I have a good reason!" She insisted. "Just because Lieutenant Arvaken said that dust is getting hard to find doesn't mean it's true! Before we meet with Headmaster Lionheart, I'd like to check it out myself, so we're not passing on rumors."

"We do have some time," Jaune pointed out. "Qrow said that it takes time to put together an assault like the one that took down Beacon. Besides, we have the lien to get a couple of rooms and check out the town for a couple of days."

"And our enemy is using rumors and panic to assist her cause," Ren added. "If we were to report a dust shortage that doesn't exist to the headmaster, it could play into Salem's hands."

"Besides," Ruby pressed her case. "Qrow said that we should enjoy ourselves when we had the chance. Let's get a couple of rooms, check out the city tonight and tomorrow morning, then report to the headmaster tomorrow afternoon."

The three older teens couldn't come up with an argument against the idea, so they did so. It felt good to be able to drop their packs off in a locked room, although they kept their weapons with them. They had a nice meal at an outdoor cafe before walking through the shopping district. It was a pleasant evening and even though they were on a mission, they were able to forget the danger for a short time and just enjoy themselves as four friends.

As the sun went down, they learned that Mistral had a vibrant night life. The city sported numerous clubs, most with open fronts that allowed passersby to hear and see the entertainment they provided. Most corners and plazas also had live entertainment from street performers. Remembering her experience with Emerald, Ruby kept one hand on her wallet and asked her companions to do the same.

Yet, there was a tension under the surface. While Ruby had never been to Mistral before, there seemed to be more suspicious looks at her group than there should have been. She had never felt self-conscious about walking around Vale with Crescent Rose, but here, her huntress's eyes caught a lot of sidelong glances her way. Occasionally, a policeman would ask their business. They maintained their mostly true cover story of being Beacon Students traveling to Haven. This would prompt the lawmen to ask to see their transcripts. Whenever the teens did so, the policemen would become satisfied, as well as the townsfolk in the immediate area. However, the suspicions would show up, anew, after a few blocks' walk.

While wandering, the team stopped to browse in weapons and dust shops. While all of the dust shops had some dust, it was considerably more expensive than it had been in Vale. Also, most shops had already sold out of one or more varieties, requiring shoppers to visit several stores if they needed differing colors. Their hunters' eyes also spotted guards in every dust shop; plain-looking men and women who seemed to be looking over the wares, but never left and never let their hands stray far from a weapon.

Strangely enough, the weapons shops were considerably more normal. Since Ruby was an unapologetic geek when it came to such implements, she quickly and easily endeared herself with the technical experts in such institutions. Showing Crescent Rose's workings to such tradesmen gained their respect, while their praise of her weapon's capabilities endeared them to her. It was while she was showing off Crescent Rose to one such expert, and watching him nearly drool over her multi-tool, that she gained some insight as to the previous suspicion.

"There was a holdup last night," the man told her. "A dust delivery came in via an airship and some thieves hit it while the crew was loading it onto delivery trucks. Dust was getting rare before, but now the supplies are running even lower."

Have there been holdups of dust shops?" Ren asked.

"No," the man shook his head. "Nobody's bothering the shops. The deal with the holdup last night; it was big. There were four airships and over a dozen guards. The police haven't released security camera footage, but I've got a friend who works at the terminal. He said that there were over thirty thieves, all wearing white fang uniforms."

"So there may be tensions between faunas and humans, as well as general suspicion," Ren noted.

"Yeah, I guess so," the technician shrugged. "All I know is that dust is disappearing from the shelves."

After thanking the man, Team RNJR had a quick meeting outside the shop.

"It sounds familiar," Jaune said. "Drop the supply of dust, build up suspicions and tension, then make the move."

"We should see if there are any major festivals or other public spectacles schedules," Ren suggested. "Such a gathering would be the logical place to make the next move."

"We should also see if there are any other airship ports," Jaune added. "We might talk the headmaster into letting us help any guards, in case the thieves show up again."

The four teens went to work with their scrolls, looking up such information.

"There's a second airship port in the city," Nora told the other three. "It's only a few blocks from here."

"There are no major public gatherings scheduled for three months," Ren reported. Then there is a large, public concert, followed by a major festival." He paused for a moment. "There are enough similarities to what happened in Beacon that I am comfortable taking our suspicions to the headmaster."

"I'd like to take a look at the terminal before we turn in," Ruby said.

"Do you really think that there's anything worth seeing?" Nora teased her. "I'm sure the police are already staking it out."

"I just want to look," Ruby insisted. "It's only a couple of blocks away."

The other three just shrugged; it was close by and while they had the lien to live, they didn't have the lien to party. They fell in behind the younger teen as she followed directions from her scroll. Their route lead them out of the commercial district and through a quieter, more dimly lit warehouse district. The team began to feel a little uneasy, remembering Qrow's remarks about how the lower classes in Mistral were known for somewhat...at the edges of legal...behavior. Before the uneasiness could grow, they were past the warehouses and next to the fence for the airship terminal.

Standing on a well-lit sidewalk, the four watched maintenance crews working on several airships. One ship landed and disembarked cargo while they team waited.

"What were you hoping to see?" Nora asked Ruby.

"Maybe someone casing out the place?" The younger teen suggested. "Something that looked suspicious."

"Like four, heavily armed teenagers staring at the airships, after dark?" Jaune asked. Ruby answered him with a scowl.

"Jaune makes a good point," Ren pointed out. "We will do nobody any good by acting suspicious and being questioned by additional law enforcement agents. I suggest we return to our rooms and attempt to see the headmaster in the morning."

Nora and Jaune agreed to this and after a moment's thought, even Ruby had to admit that it was the wisest course of action. The four followed the directions on Ruby's scroll, passing through the darkest and most cramped section of the warehouse district. Ruby snickered at her companions; they had stalked through grimm-infested forests and fought bandits, but were now nervous about a couple of possible pickpockets. Then, she stopped cold.

"Look," she hissed at her companions. Two blocks ahead of her, a rough man glared at them from the front of one of the numerous warehouses. Taking the hint, the teens took a wide circuit around the building.

"Nora, give me a boost!" Ruby hissed to her companion, pointing to a nearby roof after they had walked a couple of blocks away from the guarded building.

"Ruby, we can't get involved in these little issues!" Jaune hissed back. "So what if some thief is moving stolen goods? We have a conspiracy against Haven to deal with!"

"Just let me take a quick look!" She insisted. "I won't go anywhere near!" She patted Crescent Rose to make her point.

"What, you're going to shoot that guy?" Jaune demanded.

"No!" Ruby rolled her eyes. "A sniper scythe means a sniper scope. I'll get on the roof and look him from from a distance!"

"Oh, that makes sense I guess," Jaune shrugged.

Ruby jumped onto Magnhild and Nora swung upwards, giving the younger teen the boost she needed to land on a nearby roof. Ruby ran halfway down the roof before crouching low and squat-walking up behind a large rooftop air handling unit. There, she unfolded Crescent Rose and sighted on the man they had encountered earlier.

He was a rough looking man, with an unshaven face and a scar along one cheek. His head never stopped moving, constantly looking up and down the narrow, dark street and scanning nearby rooftops. Ruby watched him for several minutes before concluding that nothing of interest was going to happen. Then, the man looked to one side.

A truck backed to the building's bay door as said door rolled up. Two men piled out of the truck's cab while several emerged from the building. The two from the cab opened the truck's back door and the men started to lug heavy crates out of the truck and into the warehouse. Her curiosity piqued, Ruby watched the men and the cargo, hoping to see something interesting. The crates were nondescript, but seemed to be rather heavy. One of the men, emerging from the warehouse to help with yet another crate, suddenly looked towards the truck cab with a scowl. Ruby trained Crescent Rose onto the cab.

The man who now stood next to the cab wore a familiar long, white jacket and a bowler hat. Ruby's eye flew wide as the man turned away from the unloading crew and faced directly at her. When he lit a cigar, the lighter's flame showed her the face and orange hair of Roman Torchwick.

* * *

The beowolf snuffled at the base of the cliff. In a small cave well above the creature, the huntsman spared it a slight glance before continuing his study of the citadel across the barren valley floor. The middle-aged man felt no fear or hatred, only a satisfaction at having tracked his quarry to its lair. The grimm below him was one of many but because he felt neither hatred nor fear, the creatures had to track him with mundane senses.

The sound of claws scratching on rock prompted the huntsman to glance down again. The grimm was now scaling the cliff, following the route the huntsman used on his nightly water-gathering forays to the spring. Quickly returning his attention to the citadel, Taiyang slipped a little further into the cave. He had a few minutes before the creature reached him, so he pulled his blanket out of his pack.

When the creature's fore-paw reached over the cave's lip and grabbed the floor, he stepped forward to meet the beast as it lunged into his shelter. Keeping his attention on the citadel, Taiyang grabbed the beast's muzzle with his left hand, preventing all sound except a faint whine of surprise. Yanking the beast further into the cave, he brought the edge of his hand down on the back of its neck. A loud crack sounded from inside the beast and it went suddenly limp. The huntsman heaved the creature to the back of the cave then, after a quick glance back to the citadel, covered the dissolving body with his blanket. With any luck, the smoke would be dissipated by the time it escaped both his blanket and the cave that it wouldn't be noticeable in the hazy air outside. If it was noticed, then Taiyang would have more grimm, and maybe something more challenging, to deal with.

Keeping his eyes on the citadel, Taiyang pulled a brown dust crystal from his pack and returned to his vantage point. Continuing to observe both the valley floor and the citadel, he rubbed the crystal, hard, into the flesh of his left calf and shin. After he had covered every bit of that appendage, he switched hands and subjected his right forearm to the same, harsh treatment. His face showed neither pain nor impatience as he worked.

While he should return to the nearest kingdom and report the citadel's location, he had another task to accomplish. He had trailed the man who had assailed his daughter this far and if he knew anything about his enemy, it was that Salem did not tolerate failure. In a few days at most, this man would emerge from the citadel and be off, more determined than ever, to bring Ruby back here. Taiyang had seen no aircraft or boats approach the foreboding structure, so when this man left, he was certain to retrace the route he had taken to get here in the first place. While there was a chance that he would leave at night, several days of following him had taught Taiyang that the man preferred to travel in the daylight.

No, soon this man/scorpion hybrid would leave the lair and Taiyang would observe him when he did. When that happened, the huntsman would have plenty of time to head him off, well away from the citadel and the grimm that patrolled the wasteland surrounding it.

Then, the two men would have a very interesting interaction over the attack on Ruby.

* * *

 _A/N: As always, my thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, for beta reading._


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm telling you, it's him!" Ruby snarled at her companions, trying to keep her voice down as they hustled her through the streets of Mistral City.

"And we believe you," Jaune told her.

"So why are we going in the opposite direction?" She demanded. "We should be heading back there and putting an end to...to...to whatever it is that he's doing!" The young teen stopped in her tracks and planted her feet, only to have Nora scoop her up and carry her.

"Because we are already being looked at with some suspicion," Ren told her. "Because this is exactly the thing that should be reported to the authorities, so that they can devote more resources than just us to the issue, and because we don't know how many people, with what skills they may have, are located inside that building."

"That mystery girl, Cleo or Meow, or whoever it was, took out Yang, one on one," Jaune reminded her. "What if she's there? She and Torchwick together would be bad enough. Add in a dozen burly workers looking for a few additional lien and we're already facing a tough fight; what if Mercury and Emerald are there, as well?"

"We also don't know if he's a wanted man here in Mistral," Ren added. "If he was doing some business that he could explain away as being legitimate, we're the ones who will wind up being arrested, not him."

"But he's right there!" Ruby complained. "We've all gotten better, I know we can take him!"

"For what?" Nora asked. "We'd take down his piece of the operation. If we leave him be, report him and explain that he was a player in the team that took down Beacon, maybe the local police will trail him and find out who he's working for."

"I had not considered that," Ren admitted. "What is better, taking him down now or seeing if he can lead us to Cinder or whomever is now controlling him?"

"That's assuming that he's still working for them," Jaune pointed out. "I don't know how he escaped the griffon, but he might have taken the opportunity to run away from Cinder and set up shop on his own."

"So what do we do, just let him go?" Ruby whined.

"Of course not!" The blonde teen snapped back. "We report to Headmaster Lionheart tomorrow. We tell him that we spotted the man here and explain everything that he did against Beacon. After that, we offer to help deal with him. Maybe we'll get the chance to accompany a huntsman or huntress and learn even more!"

Ruby ground her teeth but didn't offer any more arguments.

"Can I trust you to walk from here?" Nora asked, showing now sign of strain from carrying the girl. "Or are we just going to be left with a bunch of rose petals if I put you down?"

"I'll stay with you," Ruby grumbled. She wished that her pout still worked, but apparently there were some down sides to growing up.

"But what if they move the...whatever it was they were unloading...before we can report it?" Ruby complained.

"Highly unlikely," Ren countered. "They made an effort to move such cargo to that location during the night. I suspect that it will stay in that warehouse at least until tomorrow night; probably much longer. We shall call up a map of Mistral and provide the headmaster with the exact location. If Headmaster Lionheart's opinion holds the same respect here that Headmaster Ozpin's did in Vale, the authorities will at least investigate the issue."

"We're still learning how to be fighters," Jaune added. "We're way out of our league when it comes to being investigators, so I'd feel better if the professionals were involved. Of course, if we learn something because of this, so much the better."

Ruby still grumbled a little about the situation. Something told her that it was a simple situation; they were the good guys and they knew where one of the bad guys were, they should just deal with him, right now. However, she realized that her companions were right; Roman had been able to handle her, one-on-one. Neo had been able to handle Yang, one-on-one. As much as she hated to admit it, if Neo, Mercury and Emerald were all there, as well as the men hauling the goods, Team RNJR would probably be outmatched.

But she still felt entitled to be grumpy about it.

The night seemed to take forever. Ruby found herself staring, irritated, at the ceiling as the minutes crawled by, reluctantly adding up to passing hours. She just couldn't sleep; they were so close to completing their mission, only to have another mystery dropped in their lap. Occasionally, she would berate herself for wanting to see the airship port, for choosing a route from it to their hotel through the warehouse district and for insisting on looking in on the suspicious building. Still, she had to admit that they had, purely by chance, stumbled upon a potentially vital clue. Her companions had been right, Roman Torchwick's presence needed to be handled carefully.

Now if she could just figure out how he survived being swallowed by a griffon.

As the minutes crawled by, Ruby recalled the last words he had spoken to her...shouted at her, actually. He had roared that he wasn't serving for profit, he was trying to survive. That had come as a shock to the teen at the time, as she had assumed that Torchwick was the ringleader. After that, she assumed that Cinder was the evil mastermind, but now she knew that it was someone named Salem. The clues they had since uncovered led them to believe that Torchwick was working for Cinder, who was working for Salem.

Uncle Qrow had told her that he thought Cinder had been in charge of the entire Beacon Operation. Somehow, she had gotten Torchwick and the White Fang to follow her orders. The big question, assuming that it _was_ Cinder's operation, was how did she do it? If Torchwick's final rant was to be believed, Cinder had intimidated him. Had she also threatened the White Fang, or had she offered them something? While Ruby didn't understand the criminal element all that well, remembering with a snort that she had to actually ask the one thief if he was robbing her, she suspected that Torchwick was very good at disappearing. Was the power Cinder could wield, in Salem's name, so great that Torchwick couldn't hide from it? Or was he so overwhelmed that he believed nothing could stop it, leaving him no place to hide?

Suddenly, Ruby felt very small and was glad that they had a connection to take this issue to a headmaster.

When the clock finally read 5:30 AM, Ruby decided that it was now officially too late to try to sleep any more. Being as quiet as she possibly could, she padded into the bathroom and showered. Afterwards, she took her time, brushing the snarls out of her hair. Last night, Nora had insisted that everyone look their best for the meeting, making the best first impression that they could on Headmaster Lionheart. She took a moment to look over her towel-clad figure. The face looking back at her was a little leaner than the one she had seen before leaving Patch, those months ago. The hair was a little longer and she made a note to have it cut soon; long hair could provide an enemy with a handhold. While Nora and Jaune kept their hair relatively short and practical, Ren kept his long, as did her RWBY teammates. Shrugging her shoulders at the mirror, she decided that everyone had to make their own choices.

She padded out to the room she shared with Nora as quietly as she could, almost jumping out of her skin when Nora suddenly sat up and shouted "pancakes!".

Deciding that her friend really needed another way of waking up, Ruby let her have a go at the shower while she got dressed. The team had agreed to wear their Beacon uniforms while meeting with the headmaster, in an effort to look formal, although they chose to carry their weapons with them. Ruby also put her hood on over the uniform, much as she did at Beacon. She then stepped out of the room, so that Nora would have some privacy. She saw Jaune standing at the balcony, staring out at the waking city.

"I take it you had trouble sleeping, as well," he commented, as she approached him.

"Yep," she answered. She noted that he wore his armor, which he had carefully cleaned and polished, over his uniform. While it should look odd; somehow it gave him the appearance of a formal and capable, if young, warrior.

"I take it Ren's still not a morning person?" She asked.

"That's an understatement," he snorted. "The only thing that got him moving was the threat of going to the meeting without having the time for feed Nora. He got moving pretty quick after that."

Ruby put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle, imagining a bed-headed Ren going from sloth to sprinter in a matter of moments.

"What do you think will happen to us after we meet with the headmaster?" Jaune asked her, his attention to the east, where the sun was just starting to peek over the mountains.

"I'm hoping we'll be able to enroll here," Ruby answered. It wasn't like the four of them hadn't had this conversation before, but it felt good to be able to air their evolving hopes and concerns. "Maybe they can put us to work hunting grimm on the outskirts of the kingdom before the next semester starts, let us build up some experience and lien. Who knows, maybe we can accompany a huntsman or huntress, learn some more that way."

"Yeah," he sighed. "That would be nice."

"What's wrong?" She asked. It was clear there was something on his mind.

"I'm just scared that once we have this meeting, we're going to become pawns again," he said, after a couple of moments' time to gather his thoughts. "When we left Patch, we were out to find answers; track down Cinder, help find the answers to the attack on Beacon and...and..." He heaved a powerful sigh. "Make Pyrrha's death mean something."

He lapsed into silence after the last statement, leaning on the balcony's top rail. Ruby placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on his forearm.

"But then we figured out that Qrow had intended for us to do it, just to draw out one of Salem's minions. I don't want to just turn it over to professionals like that, they were running things at Beacon and look what happened."

"Jaune, I know that you didn't like the fact that my uncle used us as bait," Ruby told him. "I know that you think that he, Ozpin and Ironwood pushed Pyrrha towards...towards what happened to her. But do you really think we can do better?"

"No," he admitted, after considering the question. "But I want to have some say in what happens, not just be the pawn that Professor Ozpin took us for."

"Jaune," Ruby started to reprimand her friend.

"Hear me out," he held up one hand, but it was a gentle, pleading gesture rather than a demanding one. "Ozpin was a great man, powerful, compassionate and determined to do the right thing. But in Pyrrha's case, he had her role mapped out and prepared before he told her what it was. Technically, he gave her a choice but he really didn't. When someone gives you the choice between giving up yourself and saving the world, is it really a choice?"

"So what should he have done instead?" Ruby asked.

"He should have given himself more time," he replied quickly, making Ruby realize that he had thought this through. "By the time he told Pyrrha he wanted her to be the new Fall Maiden, there wasn't time to select another. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was deliberate, but he...herded her...into her decision. Just like General Ironwood with Penny, he didn't trust anyone to accept an android with a soul, so he didn't tell anyone until it was a shock. Just like your uncle, he needed you to make the long, dangerous trip to Mistral."

"I guess that's what has me upset with what's happening," he finally admitted. "I'm upset at Ozpin and your uncle for manipulating people into playing their parts; providing the illusion of choice when they've actually closed off the choices they don't want people to take. If we're old enough to be put in the line of fire, we deserve to be told why, if someone wants to salve their own conscience by offering us a choice, we deserve a real choice."

"So you're scared that we're going to wind up being manipulated even more?" Ruby asked him.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Ruby, traveling these last few months with the three of you has been incredible! It's been terrifying, rough, painful, frustrating...and I wouldn't trade one moment of it! I'd sacrifice for any of you and I know that you'd do the same for me! I just don't want that kind of bond used against us by someone who doesn't have the courtesy to tell us that he's doing it."

"Maybe that's life," she shrugged. "Sometimes, you just have to do what you think is right, even if someone else is pulling your strings."

"But I still want to be part of the action," Jaune added. "My grandfather was a huntsman and he insisted that dad not follow that life. Instead, dad became an engineer. He made a comfortable living, comfortable enough to support eight kids. He and grandfather didn't want any of us to become huntsmen or huntresses but it didn't seem right to me." He shook his head. "Dad had my life all planned out; I would go on to a good college and get a degree in either engineering, architecture, business or even medicine. Then, I'd start a career, find a wife and produce more Arcs and maybe one of them would go on to take up the family legacy."

"I thought you once said that your father was a warrior," Ruby pointed out.

"He was a part time soldier, a member of the village guard," Jaune admitted. "He had never been to a combat school, never had is aura activated. He had some skill with the sword and knew how to handle a gun, but he never went on long missions, never had to put himself at great risk, and never wanted me to do either one."

"How could I look at a hunter, knowing that I was living well because he had sacrificed so much?" He continued. "So I decided that I would fake some credentials and attend Beacon, pick up some stories and scars so I could live that good life without guilt."

"I take it your plan has changed?" Ruby asked him.

"I'm not just going to graduate as a huntsman," Jaune told her. "I want to _be_ a huntsman. No other life makes sense anymore. I've got seven sisters to live that good life and give my parents grandchildren. I'll make it possible for them to do so."

"And if you're a huntsman, on a hunters' team, why not be where the difference is being made?" Ruby added. "I don't care if the headmaster isn't completely honest with us, as long as he sends us someplace that makes a difference! Maybe we'll go after Torchwick, maybe we'll fight grimm at a border crossing. As long as our side's closer to winning at the end of the day, that will be enough for me!"

"But we aren't going to make much of a difference if we don't get to the headmaster's office," Nora declared, from behind them.

Turning, Ruby and Jaune saw their two teammates, with Ren looking like he'd prefer to be in bed.

"And we're not visiting the headmaster until we've had breakfast!" Nora continued. "So c'mon, lazy butts, we have to get moving!"

If there was one thing that Ruby both admired and hated about Nora, it was her unending energy. The ginger girl was perfectly capable and willing to bulldoze her three teammates to the hotel's cafe if they didn't step lively enough for her taste. Once at cafe, the hammer-wielder managed to devour more pancakes than really should be capable of fitting in her trim figure. While several of the establishment's other patrons stared in shocked amazement, the Beacon students had seen it before. After breakfast, Nora inspected each of her companions in turn, assuring herself that they all looked every inch respectable students who had accomplished a difficult task.

With their appearance addressed, they strode purposely through the early morning traffic to one of the gates to Haven Academy. There, Ruby held her scroll to a scanner, which immediately sounded an alert tone. A middle-aged man quickly arrived, introduced himself as the Dean of Students, and ushered them to the impressive, administration building. Once there, he settled them into a comfortable waiting room...where they waited.

And waited.

And waited still more.

Teenagers, especially teenagers that are used to action and danger, are poor candidates for waiting in a comfortable room with very little in the way of mental stimulation. While Ren managed to close his eyes and meditate a great deal of the time away (Ruby suspected he was catching up on his sleep, since his mantra sounded suspiciously like snoring) the other three didn't have that level of mental calm. They started with just having conversations, but that ran dry very quickly; they had spent the last several months traveling together, so none of them knew any stories or bits of news that the others hadn't already heard.

Or at least, none that they were willing to tell.

After that, they tried silly games, the old "I spy with my little eye" sort of things in a desperate effort to stave off insanity. Finally, Nora found some post-it-notes near a desk telephone and crumpled them together into a ball. Soon, an impromptu game of hackeysack broke out, with the three bored teens keeping the ball moving with their feet. The unofficial rules stated that they could not leave their chairs during the game, adding a degree of difficulty. After several minutes, Ruby positioned herself so that she could observe anyone approaching down the hallway. A couple of promising starts were cut short due to people approaching but they still managed to have a little fun until, just before lunchtime, the headmaster's door opened.

Ren came out of his "meditation", snatched the ball out of the air and deposited it in a trash can before the door opened enough to allow the headmaster to observe the entire room. Once again, Ruby was forced to admit the value of teamwork. The dean ushered the team into the comfortable, book-lined office and exited, leaving Team RNJR to face Headmaster Lionheart.

"Beacon Students," the very burly, middle-aged man rose to his feet when he greeted them. "Welcome to Haven Academy. I understand that you have messages for me from the late, Headmaster Ozpin."

Ruby handed over her scroll and studied the man a little while he placed it on his pad. The man had intense, golden eyes and shoulder length yellow, but graying hair. He wore a somewhat more formalized version of the Haven student's uniform over his broad frame. While he wasn't fat, or even chubby, he appeared to be a man who hadn't completely adjusted his diet to the fact that he was no longer burning off calories at the rate a huntsman did.

The displays on both his electronic pad and Ruby's scroll flashed rapidly, blinking through files and images faster than the eye could follow, indicating that a download was in progress. Headmaster Lionheart gestured his visitors to be seated.

"While your files download to my system, is there anything else you would like to tell me?" He asked them.

"Sir, we encountered a criminal last night, that played a key role in the fall of Beacon," Ruby told him. By previous agreement, the rest of RNJR had agreed to have her act as spokeswoman. She told them of Lieutenant Arvaken's story, of confirming that dust was becoming scarce and seeing Roman Torchwick.

"It's very similar to what was happening at Beacon before the tournament," Ruby concluded. "We're concerned that the same thing might happen here."

"I can assure you that we've taken all necessary precautions," the headmaster's deep, calm voice reassured the team. "You suspect an attack with the White Fang providing the majority of the foot soldiers, coinciding with a concentrated, grimm invasion. This strategy won't work in Mistral, as the enemy is missing one, vital component."

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"The Atlesian Military," he answered. "Even with the White Fang and the grimm, Beacon would never have fallen without the forces from Atlas attacking Vale, tying down defenders that could have been mobilized to protect Beacon. Our defenses are on alert, so Atlas will not be able to infiltrate us. We're reaping the benefit from the losses Vale and Beacon suffered. I meet with the Mistral Council at least twice a week to make sure our responses are coordinated."

"But Torchwick helped Cinder take control of Atlas's forces!" Ruby protested. "He also set up a tunnel to let grimm into the city and it was only because we stumbled on it that he blasted it days before he was supposed to! If he had done it during the invasion, Vale would have fallen! He's here now! Are you going to do anything about him?"

"I don't appreciate having my actions questioned by teens," the older man countered. He took a deep breath, composing himself. "Students, we've been warned and we've taken steps. I can assure you that Haven is prepared and will stand strong, even if an attack is staged. We've stopped every grim attack on our borders, we have set up a faunas political action committee to ease tensions between the races and we have increased our defenses. Haven is prepared and strong! Now, you've gone through considerable hardships to bring this scroll to me. Some sort of compensation is in order, what can I do for you?"

"You..." Ruby started to protest, but Nora's discrete nudge silenced her complaints. "We'd like to enroll," she said, instead. "We want to become huntsmen and huntresses."

"A noble goal and one that Haven exists to promote," he nodded to her. "Unfortunately, we are already enrolled beyond our capacity for the fall semester. However, if you pass me your scrolls, I'll scan your transcripts from Beacon and give you preferential placement for the spring semester."

"But in the meantime, what do we do?" Ruby asked.

"These are troubled times, which means a hunters' party is in demand," he answered her. "I'll also scan a code onto your scrolls that will make you associate huntsmen. This will allow you to pick up missions from the boards in town. Like I said, there's a strong demand, so you should be able to earn a comfortable living and pick up valuable experience, preparing for the spring semester."

"But we have to get..." Ruby started, only to have an elbow silence her again.

"That's very kind, headmaster," Nora interrupted her younger friend. The ginger-haired girl kept a close eye on Ruby while the headmaster loaded the codes on their scrolls.

"Thank you sir, will there be anything else?" Ruby asked the older man, with a sidelong look at Nora.

"Not at all, young lady," he answered. "I look forward to seeing you for the spring semester." As Team RNJR filed out of his office, they saw him press a call button on his pad and ask for a doctor to see him at the doctor's earliest convenience.

"So what was..." Ruby started to demand of Nora, only to have Ren give her a forceful nudge in the ribs. Taking the hint, Ruby kept quiet as they exited the administration building.

"We were being dismissed," Nora explained, once they were out on the open quad. "If we had kept complaining, he would have made things a great deal more difficult for us. Trust me, Ren and I have been sent packing from a lot of proud doors over the years. We know when it's time to just walk away."

"But what now?" Ruby demanded. "Something isn't right here!"

"Indeed," Ren nodded at her. "I suggest that we stay close and observe what happens here, perhaps approach the authorities when we find more evidence."

"We'll have to take up work from the mission boards," Nora informed the other two. "And move into some more economic housing. We could be here for some time to come."

"But..." Ruby stopped and looked to the west, the direction of Patch, so many, many miles away.

"The two of you can go home if you wish," Ren suggested. "Nora and I have no home, so we can live here and observe things. While written letters are neither efficient nor reliable, we can attempt to send word if issues suggest violence is imminent."

"I'm not being on the sidelines again," Jaune told them, as they strode towards the arch that marked the entrance to the academy. "My parents didn't think I could make it at Beacon, I'm not running home because things are rough."

"I'm not leaving you guys behind," Ruby added. "We teamed up to find answers, so I'm in it until we find some."

"But for now, there are additional questions," Ren told the others, as they walked off of the Haven Academy Campus. "There is something wrong here. I would have suspected that a headmaster would want to hear our story of the fall of Beacon, or at least delegate the interview to someone."

"A good reason to stick around," Jaune replied. "Let's get a...feel...for Haven and Mistral. Maybe we were so used to the way Ozpin and Ironwood operate that Lionheart's methods seem off to us. Maybe he really does have things under control."

"But you don't believe it," Nora countered him.

"No," he admitted. "But it doesn't hurt to observe a little, before we do something we regret."

While Ren and Nora agreed with the blonde, Ruby flinched. Would following her to Mistral eventually turn into one of the things that the other three regretted?

There was a mission board in a plaza about halfway between Haven and the hotel that the team was staying in, so they stopped by and reviewed the jobs available. For all of his odd behavior, Headmaster Lionheart was correct in that there was a distressing number of missions posted for hire. Almost against her will, Ruby noted that a couple of them were escort missions that she could use to take the first steps to return to Patch, her father and her sister. Shaking her head firmly, she reviewed missions that would keep them close to Mistral City itself. Their perusal of available work was interrupted by a tone from Ruby's scroll.

"Someone's using the petition Qrow loaded on my scroll to contact us!" She reported. "It says to find somewhere private, where we can talk, and they'll meet with us!"

"Could it be a trap?" Jaune asked.

"I believe only someone who is serving the group Qrow did would have access," Ren answered. "May I suggest one of our hotel rooms? While they are private enough to facilitate an initial meeting, perhaps even a conversation, they are public enough that violence would be very risky."

Nobody could argue with Ren's logic, so Ruby used the petition to inform their unknown questioner that they were heading to a private location. The team quickly marched to the young men's room, where Ruby informed the other party that they were in place.

"Whoever it is, they're using the petition to track us," Ruby quickly reported. "I'm tracking him, as well! He's about six blocks away and seems to be on foot." After a pause, she added, "he seems to be traveling at a walking pace."

The tension grew as Ruby observed their soon-to-be visitor's path to their location. The visitor was soon outside the hotel, then inside the building. The visitor took the stairs, rather than an elevator and was soon walking down the walkway alongside the building. Ren and Jaune drew their weapons; in close quarters the relatively smaller weapons would be more useful and with civilians all around them, high powered grenades and rifle rounds were out of the question. Nora placed Magnhild on its holder on her back, but cracked her knuckles in anticipation. Ruby approached the door; her semblance would allow her to get clear if the visitor proved to be hostile.

Light footsteps approached their door. After a pause, there was a light knock. With a nervous glance to her companions, Ruby opened the door. The person waiting outside was about Jaune's height and wore a burly cloak, really too heavy for such a warm day. The face was thin and covered in grease and dirt but the eyes were a familiar bluish gray.

Suddenly, Ruby gasped, realizing that she was looking at a disguised, Winter Schnee.

* * *

"Earth to Weiss...oh, excuse me, Remnant to Weiss, Remnant to Weiss, come in Weiss. Are you there?"

Weiss gave her head a quick shake to get the cobwebs out. She was supposed to be training against Ron, giving him practice with his new weapon while Qrow and Yang were teaching students at Signal. Unfortunately for the two of them, her mind was somewhere else at the moment.

"What does that mean?" She demanded. "Remnant to Weiss?"

"It means your mind is in outer space," he grinned back at her.

"Outer space?" She asked.

"You know," he shrugged. "As in one of the satellites up above the atmosphere."

"There's nothing up there," she snorted. "Dust looses its energy when it leaves the atmosphere, everyone knows that!"

"You mean there are no satellites?" He looked honestly shocked.

"You mean the moon?" She was getting more and more confused.

"No, artificial ones," he countered. "On Earth, that's how a lot of navigation and long-distance communication is done, via satellite."

"Okay, you may want to tell General Ironwood that, when you meet him," Weiss told him. "In the meantime, I get the joke." She set into her stance, tucked in behind Myrtenaster's point. "That's bad news for you."

Ron groaned slightly, more theatrics than anything else, and dropped into his fighting stance before coming on with an aggressive advance, his staff twirling a couple of times to put her off balance before coming on with a thrust.

While Signal Students forged their own weapons during their training, there was a large caveat that should be placed on that claim. They forged their own weapons with the assistance of a master weapon-smith and his apprentices. The evening after Weiss had made arrangements to smuggle her and Ron back to Atlas, they had talked about weapons. Yang showed off Ember Celica, Weiss showed off Myrtenaster and Qrow demonstrated the capabilities of his scythe, although he didn't do a full-blown combat exhibition. After that, they talked about some of the other weapons they had encountered.

Weiss placed a glyph in front of Ron's thrust, blocking the staff. Rather than stare, like he did the first time he encountered Weiss's semblance, he kept moving, twirling his staff to sweep it under the symbol in the air. Weiss deflected the blow upward, causing it to bounce off of the icy symbol. Letting the glyph dissipate, she lunged forward with Myrtenaster extended. She released a measure of fire dust, sending a plume of flame from the rapier's tip at her opponent. Ron, however, hadn't fought his weapon's momentum when it bounced off of her glyph. Instead, he went with the movement, which made it easy for him to twirl the staff, dispersing the fire. Weiss skipped quickly to her left, sidestepping the barrier of spinning metal, and extended her rapier to catch his cycling arms. That's when Ron made use of his weapon's second form.

When they talked about weapons, Ron had become intrigued by Sun's gun-chucks. According to him, he had some training in the use of a bo staff and an instructor told him that tonfa were relatively quick to master for one skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Soon, Qrow had the young man making some sketches for his ideas and then dragged the newcomer to Signal the next day. That day, the master weapon-smith started to work on a set of Tonfa that could extend slightly, attach to each other and fold in the handles, forming a staff.

Ron detached the staff into tonfa, swatting her rapier across her body with his right hand while spinning to aim a strike at her lead foot with his left. He still didn't have the transition from bo to tonfa down to the point that it just flowed, and the delay gave Weiss enough time to step back from the strike and set glyphs around her opponent and behind herself. One more step back and she was able to launch herself between the glyphs, a deadly dart moving faster than the eye could follow.

While she tagged Ron once during her wild, back-and-forth assault, he deflected most of her strikes with his tonfa. Then, he slightly sidestepped her last thrust, allowing it to pass between his body and his arm. He brought the arm back to his side, trapping her weapon arm. He tried to thump her head with his opposing weapon, but she got her off-arm up and caught it. Stalemate, but she was at a disadvantage, Ron was considerably stronger than her. Pressed against each other, he extended one foot, seeking to trip her so that he could claim the victory. With an impish grin, she lightly nipped his earlobe while breathing into his ear.

"Yipe!" He released her and scrambled backwards. She managed to get in to quick slashes to his legs, dropping him to the ground. Before he could get his tonfa up to defend himself, she had Myrtenaster's point to his throat.

"I win," she declared.

"Flawed," he complained. "That's a flawed victory!"

"The key word to flawed victory, is _victory_ ," she countered, giving him a hand to his feet. "Now, we have just enough time to run the training course and have another match before Qrow and Yang get back."

He shrugged and shook his head, but took off on the course that he had helped to design and build. Left alone for a moment, Weiss's mind drifted to where it had been before their latest bout. She recalled the several days after returning from the shopping and arrangement-making trip to Vale City. Qrow and Yang went to work teaching at Signal and while she and Ron had spent a fair amount of time at the institution, they had spent most of their time at the Xiao Long home. They maintained the property, trained against each other and talked a great deal.

Weiss as a little confused, as she didn't recall forming a bond with the instructor who had awakened her aura yet, somehow, she felt very familiar and comfortable with the young man. Their conversations revealed even more to each other; he learned of her loneliness, determination to restore her family's name and her resentment at having her life planned for her before she could walk. She learned of his utter devotion to his companion back on his world and his determination to prove that he was more than just a sidekick.

The culmination had come last night. Weiss had been feeling more than a little down about her situation and had excused herself shortly after dinner. She had gone to the room she now shared with Yang and poked around on her scroll, not really paying attention to what she was doing but managing to lose track of how much time she had wasted. Then, Yang came in and asked her to help the other three move some furniture in the living room. A little confused about how she could help move anything that Yang and Ron couldn't, she accompanied her teammate downstairs, only to see a seven layer cake on the table with eighteen candles and Qrow and Ron wearing silly, paper party hats.

Mouth open, Weiss looked at Yang. The golden-haired young woman smiled and put on her own stupid hat before forcing one on her guest, as well. They even sang the silly song, which strangely enough was the same as it was on Ron's world. After that, it was cake, ice cream and some small gifts to celebrate Weiss becoming an official adult.

The gifts had only a fraction of the value of those she was used to receiving from her father. The cake, although a delicious thing that Ron had baked from scratch, wasn't as good as those that the finest bakers in Atlas usually delivered and the silly games they played were nothing like the entertainment that she usually enjoyed.

She enjoyed herself more last evening than at any of her previous parties.

Shaking her head to return to the present, she took off in pursuit of the newcomer. The course led them through the woods that bordered Taiyang Xiao Long's home. The goal was to weave through the trees, jumping over and around obstacles as quickly as possible. At several points targets were hung and as they approached each one, their scrolls would sound a random tone, telling them which technique they had to use to strike the target.

They taunted each other during the run, insulting each others speed, strength, agility, technique, balance, reflexes and hygiene.

Weiss enjoyed every moment.

At the end of the course, they burst back out of the woods and into the yard where they trained. Both took up a combat stance and closed in on each other again. This time, Ron kept his weapon in the tonfa form, leading off with a front strike with a kick to back it up. Weiss deflected the weapon with her rapier and skipped away from his kick. She formed an ice glyph to trap her opponent, but he jumped away from the symbol and it only encased his right foot in ice. He stomped on the ground to shatter the ice but kept moving, barely avoiding her next glyph.

She kept forming the symbols trying to wear him down through the effort he had to expend in avoiding the affects. Unfortunately, creating the glyphs was draining on her, as well. Tiring, she formed a series of her reflective glyphs all around him and launched herself into her rapid attack. This time, he had another counter.

The young man spotted a space between two of the glyphs above him and jumped through the gap. Landing outside of Weiss's prepared sphere, he watched her bouncing within the 'glyph zone'. Frustrated, she dispersed the glyph closest to him and bounced off the one farthest from him, sending herself flying directly at him, Myrtenaster's point leading the way. With a twirl of his left Tonfa, Ron knocked the rapier to her right. His right arm slid between her left arm and torso as she collided with him, and he used the leverage to throw her. She came down on her back with him on top of her, her hands held above her head by his greater strength.

Her eyes were captured by his brown orbs, so close to her own. His over-sized mouth seemed so generous and inviting and she was aware of how solid his body, lying on her, felt. Both were gasping for breath, their bodies heaving against each other. She struggled to regain her breath.

"Y-you win this round," she managed to murmur.

"Yeah," he replied, struggling to his feet and offering her a hand up.

She took the proffered hand palm-to-wrist in a hunters' style. On her feet, she found herself very close to him again. She was reluctant to step away. Fortunately for her, he did so.

"Yang and Qrow will be back soon," he told her as he picked up a towel from the couple they had left nearby. "I might as well get dinner started and we probably want to rest a little. You know they're going to put us through still more paces."

"Yeah," she agreed, catching a towel that he threw her way. "I just want to catch my breath. I'll be in to help in a minute."

She watched him walk into the house. She didn't know what she should blame; was it the excitement of being on the run and on a mission? Was it the fact that he was foreign and exotic? Was it the time they were spending with each other? Was it the adrenaline generated by the intense training? Was it the connection they had made when she awakened his aura? Whatever the cause, one thing was painfully clear: Weiss Schnee, the disciplined and dedicated young huntress in training, was falling for a young man who was in love with someone else.

* * *

"She was merciful, she was very merciful," the slender man muttered to himself. "It wasn't her fault, you forced her hand! She can't show weakness! You failed her! In her mercy, she has given you a chance to redeem yourself. Must not fail this time! Must show the queen that you are worthy to be her servant!"

Tyrian moved at a brisk pace through the wasteland, conscious of the fact that Queen Salem gave very, very few second chances. By her grace, her creatures would not attack him but he had no intention of straining that generosity. She had given him the honor of redeeming himself by performing the task she had originally given him; delivering little Ruby Rose to her. In her infinite mercy, Salem had even neglected to require that he deliver the girl unharmed.

He still intended to deliver her less her left eye, revenge for harming one of the queen's servants. He still didn't care a whit about Cinder but she _was_ one of Salem's trusted servants and an injury to her was an affront to the queen. Now, he also intended to remove some other body part, payback for chopping off his stinger. He giggled for the next hour's travel, debating what he would...should remove in retaliation and the method of doing so. Extending his tail up over his shoulder, he lovingly caressed the iron tip, Salem's benevolent gift to compensate for his loss. Since the girl had no stinger of her own, perhaps the removal of both of her eyes, using Salem's gift, would be appropriate?

Tyrian was an experienced agent and did not allow his contemplation of the upcoming mission cloud his awareness. Thus, when the ravine he was traveling down suddenly widened into a draw, the blonde man who waited for him didn't catch him by surprise.

"Why, I do believe that I'm speaking to Taiyang Xiao Long," Tyrian declared, with mock courtesy. He well remembered the images he had been shown of the man now ahead of him.

"You have me at a disadvantage," the other man replied, in a conversational tone. "I know you by reputation, but not by name."

"My name is Tyrian, my friend," the faunas placed a hand over his heart and extended the other out from his side. "May I ask what brings a schoolteacher so far from Patch?"

"Issues both professional and personal," Taiyang informed him, limbering his shoulders. "Perhaps you could help me with them."

"I live to serve," Tyrian retorted, his voice sarcastic. "What is the professional issue that brings you here?"

"I'd like to know if Salem is still in the stronghold you left this morning."

The statement made Tyrian hiss in shock, but he quickly regained his composure.

"A most unfortunate line of inquiry for you," he told the instructor. "Her Grace's movements are not for me to track or to question. Yet the very fact that you asked means that I cannot simply let you leave. Nothing personal, you understand."

"Completely understandable," Taiyang assured him. "In fact, it plays into my personal business for coming here."

"And what business would that be," Tyrian filled his tone with false honey.

"I would like to express my displeasure with you attacking my daughter," Taiyang's voice had no kindness in it and he punctuated the statement my dropping into a ready stance.

"It would appear that words won't suffice," Tyrian growled at his opponent. "You're a fool, schoolteacher. Do you really think you can deal with what a proper huntsman couldn't?"

"We'll have to s.." Taiyang began, but was interrupted by Tyrian's sudden rush.

Tyrian used both a strategy and an attack that had served him very well in the past; prompt a response from the opponent and attack while he is speaking. His attack was also an efficient one, thrusts with both sets of wrist blades, followed by a front kick, leading to a spin and thrust with his tail and finished with a side kick. The attack was intended to overwhelm even a prepared opponent with too many strikes to avoid.

Sparks flew when his wrist blades met Taiyang's forearms. His front kick was deflected to one side by a quickly raised knee, his stinger swatted upwards by a rock-hard palm and his side kick wasn't merely blocked, the schoolteacher caught the leg, punched the exposed thigh then used it as a handle so send the faunas sprawling.

Tyrian was on his feet in a moment, giving his opponent a mocking salute and a hard look. The schoolteacher had some moves and didn't want to simply take out an overconfident foe. That would cost him. In the real world, there was no room for altruism.

Shrieking with laughter, Tyrian launched himself into another attack. Again, sparks flew when his wrist blades deflected off of Taiyang's forearms. This time, Taiyang countered with quick punches and kicks. Tyrian dodged and blocked, noting that sparks also flew when his blades met his opponent's shins and fists. He cackled to himself, Taiyang was quick and skilled, but was soon going to be paying the price of going into a fight bare-handed. Each strike was depleting his aura and he would soon be vulnerable.

A fist got through Tyrian's defense, hitting him in the solar plexus and driving him backwards. He blocked the following fist but an elbow caught him in the jaw, staggering him. He backpedaled, gaining a little distance before extending the barrels from his blades and opening fire. To his disappointment, Taiyang arced his forearms, blocking the dust rounds much as a true huntsman would with a blade. Still Tyrian snickered, knowing that his opponent's aura was depleting. Coiling his tail beneath him, he used his tail and legs to hurl himself at the teacher, leading with his blades and with his guns blazing.

Again, Taiyang blocked the rounds with his forearms but instead of blocking the oncoming foe, he dropped onto his back. The faunas smiled as he saw several rounds hit his target in the chest, but that smile vanished when the schoolteacher brought up a foot, kicking him in the belly and sending him arcing through the air. Tyrian sprawled on the hard, rocky ground but managed to roll onto his feet. He spun to face his foe just in time to receive Taiyang's charge.

The teacher was actually taking the offensive! Sparks flew as blades blocked the incoming fists. Tyrian lashed with his tail but Taiyang sidestepped the iron tip and landed a knee into Tyrian's gut. The fauna staggered backwards again, firing bursts with his wrist guns to keep his opponent away long enough to catch his breath. Taiyang simply blocked the rounds with his forearms, showing neither anger or irritation and showing no inclination to immediately attack.

How could his aura be so strong? There was no way that anyone could take the slashes and shots that he had absorbed and not have his aura depleted. Snarling in frustration, Tyrian started a stalking approach, firing short bursts with his guns to keep his opponent off balance. Timing Taiyang's blocks, Tyrian lashed with his tail again. The iron tip drew sparks on his forearm but wrapped around the appendage. Smiling, Tyrian dug in his feet to pull the teacher off balance.

Instead of fighting the pull, Taiyang sprang along with it. Caught by surprise, Tyrian gaped in horror as the teacher swatted his blades aside with one arm and delivered a powerful shot to his jaw with the other. The faunas dropped to the ground as Taiyang flew over him, keeping his grip on Tyrian's tail. Now Taiyang yanked on Tyrian's tail, pulling the other man towards him. The faunas got his blades up and blocked his opponent's arms, but Taiyang delivered two more knee strikes to his gut. Again, Tyrian staggered back, firing short bursts to keep Taiyang at a distance.

Taiyang was gasping from his exertions while Tyrian was desperately trying to get his abused torso to process enough air for him to function. How could his opponent's aura still be strong and active? Suddenly, Tyrian realized why.

"You bastard!" He spat at his opponent. "You've embedded your flesh with Earth Dust!"

"In places," Taiyang answered, showing no more emotion than if Tyrian had asked him about the weather. He now closed the distance on Tyrian, his feet describing shallow arcs along the ground, keeping in perfect balance.

Snarling, Tyrian rushed forward to meet him, firing the last rounds in his guns. With Taiyang tiring, two of the rounds got through his defense, but it wasn't enough to penetrate his aura. Tyrian threw two wide slashes, which he knew Taiyang would block. With his opponent's arms occupied, he arced his tail between his own legs, seeking to extend it between his opponent's and get a shot on the teacher's back. Instead, Taiyang stomped on the appendage and pinned it to the ground. Before Tyrian could react, Taiyang head-butted him in the face.

His nose broken and flattened, the faunas staggered backwards again. Taiyang gave him no respite, keeping close and unleashing a storm of elbow strikes. Dazed, Tyrian could only block half of the strikes. His vision momentarily filled with lavender sparks as his aura gave way. Taiyang saw it as well. The teacher grabbed the faunas' head and delivered a knee-strike to Tyrian's groin, another to his belly then a third to his chin, while his aura absorbed two weak tail strikes to his own back. Tyrian dropped to the ground, coughing blood from internal injuries.

"H..how?" he managed to gasp. The teacher's aura flared and failed, but Tyrian was too weak to move.

Grabbing his opponent by the hair, Taiyang pulled back the man's head, exposing his neck. "The greatest fighters seem to forget the first lesson," he told the fallen assassin.

Tyrian didn't feel the blow that ended his life. He only managed to see a flicker of motion as Taiyang's knife-hand strike hit the side of his neck. He was dead before his brain could register the pain of impact or the sound of his spine separating.

Taiyang took a few minutes to catch his breath. It had been a hard fight and if Tyrian hadn't underestimated him from the beginning. Once his energy was restored, he hoisted the body onto his shoulders and carried it away from the trail, to the isolated hollow he had spotted earlier. There, he used his bare hands to dig a shallow grave in the rocky soil. He then stripped the body of valuables and weapons before interring it into Remnant and piling rocks over the dirt mound. Finished, he found a rock with a flat face and carved words on it, placing it over his foe's head.

His task complete, Taiyang looked back towards the stronghold for a moment. He shook his head, realizing that if Salem were present; she, her grimm and any servants would be too much for him to deal with. Instead, he turned west. Mistral was a long way away, but the longest journey wouldn't start without the first step. Hoisting his pack onto his back, he set of at a rapid walk. Idly, he fished an Earth Dust Crystal out of his pack and rubbed it into the knuckles of his left hand. After an hours' walk, he switched hands and paid attention to his right fist. Far behind him, the makeshift headstone displayed the eulogy for anyone who might ever visit the lonely hollow.

TYRIAN

Loyal Beyond Reason

* * *

 **A/N: Again, my thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this little tale. Big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

"That is what I've learned so far," Winter told the four teens. "Sometime before the attack on Beacon, Headmaster Lionheart stopped communicating with the other three. He has also taken actions that I find to be out of character. He has taken a passive approach to the upcoming crisis, insisting that everything is under control."

"Captain Schnee?" Ren interrupted. "Is it necessarily his responsibility to prepare for the crisis, outside of Haven itself?"

"The headmasters have more influence than most people realize," she informed him. "General Ironwood has a great deal of influence on the Atlas Council, as Professor Ozpin had with the Vale Council. Headmasters have the responsibility to prepare their kingdoms against crises such as struck Vale and is building against Mistral."

"How can we help?" Jaune asked.

The blunt question seemed to take the captain aback. She stared at the young, blonde man, not knowing what to say.

"We were all at the fall of Beacon," he reminded her. "We don't want to see it happen again. We're not experienced huntsmen, but I think we're all you have at this point and in our defense, we managed to fight our way across Anima."

"Indeed," she murmured, giving him a piercing look. "Very well, tell me anything you find relevant about your trip."

The team first told her about the fight with Tyrian and Qrow's intervention. Ruby noted a scowl forming on Winter's pale features whenever they mentioned her uncle. Then, they told about Qrow downloading the file so that they could see the headmaster. After this, they told her about the skirmish at the port of entry and lieutenant Avarken's concerns about dust supplies. Finally, they told her about spotting Roman Torchwick.

"Most of the trip wasn't anything to talk about," Jaune concluded. "Just doing some huntsman work in exchange for goods, services and a few lien when we could."

By unspoken consent, they didn't talk about Ron.

In response, Winter fixed them with a cold stare that lasted long enough to make them all squirm.

"You're not telling me everything," she finally said.

"No, we're not," Jaune agreed. "And you're not telling us everything. The secrets we're keeping have nothing to do with this mission."

"I reserve the right to judge that!" She snapped at them. "If you were my soldiers, you would be imprisoned for insubordination."

"We are not your soldiers," Ren pointed out. "We are neither equipped nor paid by the Atlesian Military. We have offered our help, free of such obligation on your part but that means were are helpers, not soldiers. We have taken no oaths to follow your orders. We retain certain rights and one of those rights is to our own privacy."

Again, Winter glared at each one in turn. Ruby swore she could see gears turning behind the exquisite woman's eyes. Finally...

"Very well," her voice was still harsh and clipped. "As much as I despise Qrow Branwen, I have to admit that he's a capable agent. I guess I'm going to be forced to accept any help I can acquire."

Jaune quickly put a retraining hand on Ruby's shoulder, just in time to head off an angry outburst.

"You must know that I'm in Mistral on official business," she informed the team. "I am the Atleasan Liaison Officer, seeking to ease tensions between the kingdoms. The current situation should make it clear how impossible this task has proven to be."

"Or how little progress you've made," Ruby pointed out.

"I have informants within Mistral," the officer continued, with a hard look at Ruby. "They tell me that the bandit attacks on the borders, outposts and outlying settlements have been increasing. As almost everyone knows, where the bandits go, the grimm follow."

"We learned that at Shion," Jaune grumbled.

"It is my conclusion that these bandits are working towards a greater purpose," Winter continued, now glaring at Jaune for interrupting her. "It isn't a case of clever bandits attacking this kingdom and taking advantage of the grimm. There is an overall intelligence directing these assaults, using them to weaken the kingdom as a military and political entity. Your conversation with the lieutenant at the outpost, and your fortunate observation of Roman Torchwick confirms my theory."

"So what do we do about it?" Nora asked. When Winter turned her disapproving glare on the younger woman, Nora didn't avert her gaze.

"Roman Torchwick and the warehouse you observed are my best leads," Winter told the group. "If my suspicions are true, and Headmaster Lionheart has become somehow influenced by those who would see Mistral and Haven fall, Torchwick will soon discover that he was observed. He will have no choice but to move whatever cargo he has there, maybe even tonight."

"And that means we do what?" Nora persisted.

"It means we get ready to track whatever he has stored there," She offered a tight, knowing smile. "The four of you are about to get some instruction on basic undercover operations."

Several hours later, Jaune came to the conclusion that he owed his boots an apology. He had gotten them just outside the Kingdom of Vale, when the team eliminated a deathstalker in return for a fishing boat taking them to Anima...and the village cobbler making the boots to replace his old high-tops. They had faithfully carried him across Anima, a process that broke them in to the point that they were as comfortable as sneakers. What had they ever done to deserve this punishment?

Creeping through the storm sewers under the warehouse district, Jaune mentally begged his boots' forgiveness for every step. The original settlement of Mistral had been built on the vertical face of a sheer cliff, where earth-bound grimm simply couldn't travel. As the population grew, the nobility and ruling class occupied the top of the plateau while the lower classes expanded onto the steep slopes below. In theory, the storm sewers should be on a steep enough grade that wastewater would rush through fast enough to sweep all debris away before it could decay.

In theory.

Jaune Arc had marched across almost all of Anima; he had crossed stony mountains and open plains. He had slogged through fetid swamps and waded across slow, muddy rivers. He had even walked over one hundred kilometers while escorting a cattle drive, often as the rear guard and with all _that_ entailed, but he had never smelled anything quite so bad as what he was sloshing through at the moment. Trust 'fixated on arts and presentation' city officials to not do anything about the drainage system until it backed up. Not only were there pits and holes down here, full of water, the occupants of this district had been using them to get rid of anything that they didn't want found. Jaune swore that he had seen arms and legs in the subdued light, but he wasn't about to look any closer into the matter.

He heaved a sigh, sorry that Ruby had to be the one down here with him. Of course, it was really a case of him being down here with her. Winter wanted two people to back her up for her breaking and entering tonight, and two to approach from the sewers. Since Torchwick had seen Ruby, Ruby was automatically assigned the more obscured mission. Since Ren and Nora went nowhere without each other, by default Jaune was in the tunnels with Ruby.

Standing under a drainage grate, the two gave each other miserable looks before continuing, as quickly as they could. The first twenty minutes underground taught them to stay under a grate, and its relatively fresh air, while observing their upcoming route. Once they were sure they knew where they were going, they would hold their breath and rush to the next such grate. Breathing away from them wasn't only unpleasant, Jaune was sure it had to be threatening to their health.

"How much farther?" Ruby gasped, once they reached the sanctuary of the next grate.

Being taller, Jaune could actually look out of the grate. A nearby corner had a working streetlight, which allowed him to read the street signs. He compared them to the map on his scroll.

"We're about two-thirds of the way there," he told her.

She sighed in irritation and he followed suit. This was another harsh lesson in the huntsman's life; the mission was all-important and you had to do whatever it took. Jaune and his companion had faced exhaustion, pain and loss. Now, they were facing a sense of disgust so powerful it almost had a physical presence.

"I don't like being in such a cramped place." Ruby's voice actually trembled a little.

"It's creepy, isn't it?" Jaune was trying to make conversation, but he realized how horrible it must be for the girl.

While Ruby was a much more capable fighter than him, she wasn't very formidable when she didn't have Crescent Rose. In the cramped tunnels, there was no way she could utilize the sniper scythe to any great effect and her semblance would be next to useless, dangerous really, in the confined space. Looking at her more closely in the dim light, Jaune could see the whites around her silver eyes; a mute testament to just how frightened she was.

The fact that she was still functioning drove home just how brave she was.

Light skittering sounded near their feet. Ruby used her scroll at lowest illumination to shine down on a narrow ledge over the latest, foul puddle and Jaune slashed with Crocea Mors. All the training was coming in useful; he was able to split the rat without hitting stone. Hissing in disgust, Jaune shared a nod with his companion and the two set off at a rapid pace for the next grate. By unspoken agreement, he kept his sword out while Ruby used her scroll to provide light. The two held hands, Jaune's left and Ruby's right. Although he was the armed party, he had to admit that it felt better knowing she was with him.

They had both heard stories of sewers filled with hordes of rats that would overwhelm and devour people. The reality was thankfully more tame; there was plenty of refuse down here so the varmints weren't terribly interested in eating something that fought back. The infernal vermin were territorial, however, so whenever the duo passed by a mass of decaying matter that they didn't really want to look at, they could count on at least one of the critters popping out to let them know who owned it. Not wanting to see if aura made one immune to rabies, distemper or any other assorted afflictions, Jaune thought it better to add the previous owners to the stink-pile.

This time, when they paused under the grate, Jaune didn't make an effort to release Ruby's hand. While he told himself that she had to be feeling vulnerable and frightened, he could admit to himself that it calmed him down, as well. She made no effort to disengage, either, so they used that simple gesture to assure each other until they reached their destination. Once at the selected grate, Jaune examined the surroundings; both street level and subterranean. The street was quiet and the local rodent population had apparently decided to concede temporary ownership of this section of the tunnels to the primates. Jaune did notice that a section of the tunnel wall had crumbled nearby, leaving large chunks of stone lying on the floor.

"Stay here and listen for a moment," he told his companion. He used his sheath to rap on the loose stones, evicting the current residents, mammal, reptile, amphibian and arthropod, each more loathsome than the next.

"What are you doing?" Ruby hissed at him.

Rather than answer, he hauled several of the stones to a point under the grate, deciding that he now owed his gloves almost the same apology that he owed his boots. It was worth it, as once he built up a small pile, Ruby was able to stand on it, placing her head at the same level as his. She was now able to see onto the street and breathe the better air he had been enjoying.

"Thanks," she gave his hand a squeeze to emphasize her appreciation. Strangely, neither felt like letting go.

"Fifteen minutes or so," Ruby informed him, checking her scroll again. The two settled in to wait, ready to make a call if they spotted any sort of activity.

"I wonder if we'll be able to see her break in," Ruby whispered, more to take her mind off of her surroundings than real curiosity.

"Probably not," Jaune quietly grumbled in return. "The maddening thing about her sort is that they act all perfect and superior...then prove it."

Ruby couldn't help but reply with an irritated smile. She hated to admit it, but Winter was every bit as capable as she claimed to be.

The time that the Atlesian had earmarked for her break-in came and went without incident. The two teens under the streets divided their time between watching the street and monitoring the increasing boldness of the Mistral subterranean rodent population. Roughly thirty minutes after the scheduled infiltration, muffled shouts sounded from inside the warehouse. The teens then heard the sound of steel striking steel and a shriek of pain. More shouts sounded, then a series of gunshots that were louder than they should have been. The warehouse's window flickered with light. Then, Nora's unmistakably joyous battle cry could be heard followed by a loud thump. Silence returned.

Jaune and Ruby waited another ten minutes, agonizing over what could have happened...what could still be happening...to their friends. Then a car and two trucks pulled up by the warehouse.

"I don't believe this!" Roman Torchwick's voice growled through the dark. "What good is trying to distribute state of the art weaponry if you idiots can't even use it to stop a break-in? You're supposed to be the bad guys, not get rolled by the bad guys! How hard is that to understand?"

The criminal's long, white coat could be seen in the dim light as he hustled into the warehouse. The teens heard a muffled reply.

"Well he's lucky and so are you!" Torchwick snapped back. "If the burglar hadn't finished him off, I would have had to do it! That's always messy and I just had this coat cleaned. That would have made me very cranky!"

A dim light shone for a few moments as he walked in the door, allowing Ruby to spot a very short, slender figure accompanying him. She gave Jaune a grim nod; Neo was apparently still with Torchwick. Then Roman and his guard were in the building, leaving a single man to guard the vehicles. The teens shared another nod, and Jaune pulled the blowgun out of his pocket.

When Winter assigned the teams, she gave Ruby and Jaune some tiny examples of Atlesian technology...tiny tracking devices that would attach magnetically to a vehicle. They were small enough that a blowgun could shoot them across a street. When the teens practiced with the devices, Ruby was shocked to find that Jaune was not only more accurate than her, he was able to place a device within inches of his target point. Over the next several minutes, Jaune planted several such devices on each vehicle. Pausing, they listened for any sign that their activities had been detected.

"How did you get so good with a blowgun?" Ruby asked him, admiring his marksmanship.

"I have seven sisters," he answered, lining up another shot.

"Not seeing the connection," she admitted.

"They are all older than me and they all loved to pick on me, when we were kids," he told her, after landing his last shot. "Back then, they liked to wear their hair really long."

"Still not understanding."

"I learned to shoot spit-wads at an early age," he told her, putting the blowgun back in his pocket. "A blowgun's pretty much the same thing."

For some reason, the thought of Jaune being a bit of a naughty child put a smile on Ruby's face.

As expected, Roman observed a small horde of manpower hauling crates out of the warehouse and loading them onto the trucks. For the most part, Ruby and Jaune ducked low into the tunnel and simply listened; Neo was prowling about the area and Ruby had no intention of seeing if the trek across Anima had toughened her to the point she could handle the undersized woman. After a couple of hours of work, another vehicle pulled up.

"Oh for pity's sake!" Torchwick's voice conveyed a great deal of annoyance. "I still have to babysit? So now you're not a toady, you're a gopher! Is that a promotion for you?"

"I do what I'm told," Ruby caught her breath when she recognized Mercury's voice. "The same as you. I'm here to let you know that...our employer...is more than a little nervous about you moving this cargo. Wasn't the whole idea to have it in place well before the festival?"

"Urghh!" Even though they were crouching under the street, Ruby swore she could see Torchwick's face-palm. "Kid, plans change, you should know that. Now, rather than have a private conversation out on the street, why don't we step inside?"

"Where you might have some allies of your own?" Mercury's voice conveyed the sneer that must have been on his face. "Fat chance. I have to be on an airship at dawn, so you better be convincing."

"So now you're not even a gopher," Torchwick chuckled. "You're a messenger boy and a tattletale. Okay, item number one, four former Beacon students showed up at Haven yesterday and got in to see the headmaster. Our employer's contact wasn't able to tell me the entire conversation the old boy had with them, but he found out that the little pests spotted me here. Earlier this night, we had a break-in. Do you think that was a coincidence?"

"Well..." Mercury's usual self-confident tone had cracked a bit.

"The burglars were very capable," Torchwick continued, not giving the younger man a chance to collect his thoughts. "Our associates can handle pretty much anyone that the criminal element here can produce but one of the burglars danced around them like they were wearing lead boots. Another burglar used a sledgehammer to make a shock-wave that put all of the guards out of commission."

Mercury apparently didn't have a response.

"So we have some nosy kids who saw, first hand, what went down in Vale," Torchwick's voice had a tone of conclusion to it. "They spotted me, right here, unloading the merchandise. The very next night, we have a break in by a couple of people who just happen to have fighting skills on par with an experienced huntsman. You better believe I'm moving the goods."

"Okay, I'll buy that," Mercury's cocky tone was back. "But out of the kingdom?"

"Kid, let me give you some advice," Torchwick's voice became almost fatherly and friendly. "We're working with people who don't like failure and prefer to blame someone else when it happens. Now, these super guns that our employer had obtained have been really good, so far. But before I put them in the hands of the White Fang, I'm going to test fire each and every one and make sure they all work. That's a little too much noise to make in the kingdom."

"But the risk," Mercury countered. "Taking them out of the kingdom and bringing them back in? Is it work taking the chance?"

"You kids always ask the wrong questions!" Now, Roman Torchwick was yelling at his tormentor. "The question isn't ' _do I dare take the risk?_ ' It's ' _what will happen if I don't?_ ' Do you think this place isn't being watched, right now? Do you think _we_ aren't being watched? The only way I keep this gear in Cind...in our employer's hands is to get it out of here! What happens to me if I give five hundred of the White Fang these super guns and only half work? I'll tell you what, either our employer will blame me for damaging the goods or the White Fang will blame me for setting them up to get crushed, or both!"

"No kid," Torchwick sighed. "When I took the goods, I became responsible for them, so I better make sure they work."

"But out of the kingdom?" Mercury prompted.

"Kid, the borders to this kingdom are as porous as a sieve, if you know the right people," Torchwick was back to using his charming tone. "Believe me on this, I know the right people. I'll keep the super guns and the wonder weapons safe. In fact, I'll test the one of the wonder weapons, as well."

"But it's supposed to be huge," Mercury protested. "We only have three of them!"

"Exactly," Roman agreed. "So I'm going to make sure that at least one of them works as promised before it's my skin on the line if they don't!"

"You don't trust our employer?" Mercury's voice didn't have a great deal of challenge in it.

"Kid, if everyone delivered what they promised, you'd be drowning in lien and those pills I bought a few years back would have given me a much larger..."

"This stuff is a little more serious," Mercury interrupted. "Do you really think anyone would swindle our employer...or hers?"

"There's too many middlemen and too many promises for my comfort," there was a pause in Torchwick's statement. Ruby could imagine him lighting a cigar to emphasize his point. "I found out the hard way that the cases the miracle ammunition came in were encased in lead foil. No latch, no way of opening them but to chisel through the lead, and even then, there were wires run through the foil. If I hadn't peeked at the goods, I'd be trying to open them up in the middle of a shoot out."

"Okay, maybe that's just the way they're stored," Mercury countered him.

"The story about them is just too unbelievable to accept at face value." Torchwick told him. "Kid, if there's one thing you can trust your Uncle Roman to do, it's to cover his own butt. I've got an idea to test one of the wonder weapons. If the weapon works, our employers will be happy with the results and if it doesn't, we won't be exposed."

"So where are you taking the merchandise?" The challenge had left Mercury's voice.

"Here, kid," Ruby heard a quiet rustle of paper. "It's a travel guide of sorts. It details the settlements to the west, in the swamps. Lots of nice places with space and no questions, if you know where to look. Now, are you satisfied with what I'm doing?"

"I am," Mercury told him. "But as for...our superiors?"

"I understand," Torchwick's voice had a tone of finality. "I've got work to do and you've got an airship to catch. Good luck."

Ruby heard a vehicle drive off, followed shortly by Torchwick snarling at the workers to pick up the pace. There were the groans of burly men hauling heavy loads, the thumps of heavy objects being set down and the creak of the trucks accepting the cargo.

"Okay, that's it," Torchwick's voice declared after a roughly an hour of work. "Neo, if you'll do the honors; the rest of you, follow me."

Ruby heard the vehicles' engines start then heard them drive off. Silence quickly returned to the immediate area. Jaune sneaked a peek at the warehouse.

"Nothing's happening," he reported to Ruby. She joined him in observing the building.

"Wait, is that a flicker coming from the window?" Jaune asked her. By the time Ruby realized what he was looking at, the orange flicker had gotten brighter.

"There's a fire in the warehouse!" Ruby gasped. "That's the 'honor' Torchwick told Neo to take care of." She tried to force the grate open.

"No!" Jaune hissed at her. "We're not firefighters! There's nothing we can do and Torchwick might have someone keeping an eye on the warehouse, seeing if the fire will draw a watcher out!"

Ruby dropped back to the rock pile, realizing that he was right.

"We have to get out of here," he told her. She nodded and took his hand.

It was a couple of more hours in the loathsome tunnels before they reached the exit point they had selected. Dawn was brightening the eastern sky as they emerged from the tunnels next to a creek, in a small park. Stepping out of the dark, Ruby immediately heard a quickly stifled giggle from the off to one side. She put a hand up to silence Jaune, and they kept quiet as a teen couple emerged from the bushes and adjusted their disheveled clothing, before walking off hand-in-hand. More whispers and shuffling sounded from their other side, telling the two that they had managed to pick the local hook-up spot as their exit point.

"Maybe we should wait a few minutes," Ruby suggested, then her voice went silent.

Down in the tunnels, she hadn't been able to see her companion very well. Now, it was obvious that he hadn't spent a restful night in bed. His clothing and armor had streaks of filth from the tunnel walls. His face was grimy and streaked with trickles of his sweat. His hair was disheveled and had cobwebs mixed in with it. Horrified, Ruby realized that she must present the same condition. They had to walk several blocks to get to their room and in their current state, they risked drawing curious stares. Ruby thought quickly.

"There's a pond in the center of the park," she whispered to Jaune. "Let's get there and clean off the worst of the grime." Jaune nodded his understanding.

They didn't flush any more lovebirds, but they thought they heard another couple leaving the park. Thankfully, the pond was crystal clear and bordered on two sides by a brick walkway. They took turns, washing their hands and faces and washing the worst of the filth from their clothing and armor. Unfortunately, they didn't have combs or brushes, so their hair was still unkempt. Beside that, their clothing wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny without revealing that they had been up to something dirty and unpleasant the night before. How could they get back to the rooms without drawing any attention? Suddenly, she knew what to do.

She clung to Jaune's left arm as they walked out of the park. She wasn't tall enough to put her head on his shoulder, but his mid-biceps would do.

"Ruby?" He asked. "What are you..."

"Just get a silly, happy look on your face and play along!" She hissed at him. She put what she hoped was an empty-headed smile on her face.

"Are you trying to make it look like we..."

"That must be what the locals use the park for," she whispered to him. "This way, folks won't look at us all that close. It wouldn't be polite."

He gulped audibly.

"It's okay to blush," she told him, pretty sure the red color was rising into her face, as well. Then, she got a little of her fire back. "You can look tired. If we had done what it looks like, I'd have worn you out!"

"And I would have returned the favor," he grumbled back.

She couldn't help but giggle a little, which probably helped the act. She looked up at his face and realized that he was nervous but very amused, just like her.

He shortened his stride so that she could comfortably match her pace to his. While there were more than a few knowing smirks directed their way, the observers merely smiled and looked somewhere else. By the time they reached their rooms, Ruby had a very satisfied smile on her face; which she realized probably enhanced the ruse. That smile didn't last long after they reached their rooms, to find Winter Schnee on one of the beds, her left thigh wrapped in a bandage.

Ruby and Jaune didn't get an immediate explanation; Winter, Nora and Ren all insisted that the two tunnel rats shower and change into clean clothing. In fact, since they had two rooms, each was chased into a shower while someone else collected their dirty clothes, with a stick, to run to the hotel's laundry room. For once, Ruby was grateful that her friends had insisted that she obtain some additional clothing; her battle skirt and top desperately needed cleaning as badly as she did. Soon, she and Jaune were freshly cleaned and sitting with the rest of the team, devouring some take-out breakfast. Once finished, Winter told them what she had found.

"There were crates full of some form of rifles," she told them, with a gesture towards a weapon lying on a desk. "I took one of them from one of the guards. Another guard opened fire on me and the bullets were too fast for me to dodge or block."

She pulled her saber from its sheath and held it up for observation. It had several gouges in the metal.

"I've blocked more rounds than the four of you can imagine," she stated. "This blade has never taken damage while in my hands before this mission. There's something about that rifle and the ammunition that it fires that could turn the balance in any battle."

Jaune showed her the hole in his shield and the damage to his armor.

"So whomever we face has already deployed some of these weapons," she concluded.

"How badly are you wounded?" Jaune asked.

"Three bullets went through my thigh," she told him. "Despite the fact that my aura was strong. Fortunately, it is muscle damage and blood loss; not organ or bone damage. I will be capable of functioning by tomorrow. However, these rifles were not the only thing stored in the warehouse. There were three large crates with strange symbols on them...a dot surrounded by three arcing polygons that formed an incomplete circle...yellow on a dark background. I didn't get a chance to open one of them before the guards forced me to retreat."

The Atlesian simply looked at the teens for several minutes, not speaking. Finally, Ruby decided to ask the question...

"What do we all do now?"

"First, I need the two of you to tell me everything that you observed," Winter informed the teenager.

With occasional input from Jaune, Ruby told the whole story. Ren and Nora became concerned when they heard that Neo was with Torchwick again. They became visibly grim when they heard that Mercury was, as well."

"Mercury was working for Cinder," Nora growled. "I'd like to meet up with him and discuss where she is right now. She killed..."

"We can worry about revenge later," Winter interrupted her. "Miss Rose, please continue."

Ruby finished telling the tale, concluding with the disguise she adopted to get her and Jaune from the park. Nora, who had been fuming at Mercury's name, was snickering at the two when Ruby finished.

"I have a contact and a method to get this rifle back to Atlas," Winter told them. "But I will need to leave the kingdom to make use of it. In the meantime, I'll need the four of you to follow the rest of the weapons and the other crates."

"And we'll use the bugs you planted to do so?" Ren asked. "Torchwick is no fool, I'm sure he has a method of scanning for such devices."

"I planted two types of tracking devices," Winter informed him. "The first are active, producing a continuous signal. They will be relatively easy to locate. The other type are reactive, they will only respond to a particular signal. These will be much harder to locate. He will find the active transmitters, be satisfied that he has cleared the cargo of tracking devices and conclude that there are no more to be found."

"As long as he does what you think he will," Ruby grumbled.

"Be that as it may," the older woman glared at Ruby. "I will load the proper files onto your scrolls. You will need to be ready to move by the end of the day. The local CCT signal will allow you to track the devices anywhere in the kingdom but once they leave the tower's coverage, you'll have to get within direct scroll range to track them. I will also give you some instructions on how to contact me with what you find."

The older woman gave the four a penetrating look, "I hope you hadn't planned on a vacation, the fate of Mistral could rest on your shoulders."

* * *

"This doesn't look exactly like the pinnacle of technology."

Weiss looked over her shoulder, partially irritated and partially amused.

"This isn't the kingdom proper," she pointed out. "Even on Solitas, there are areas outside the kingdom."

"So when do we get to Atlas?" Ron asked her.

"Once we get the cargo unloaded, we can guard it on the way to the kingdom," she reminded him. "So perhaps you can quit talking to that rat friend of yours and lend the crew a hand."

"I'm just trying to be social," Ron protested. "If the little guy want's to talk to me, I'm more than willing to talk back."

"It isn't natural," Weiss growled. "Now, let's help the crew. The quicker we get the cargo to the trucks, the quicker we get to Atlas and the quicker the scientists can get to work..."

 _Getting you home_ , Weiss couldn't bring herself to finish.

Ron extended one finger to a sleek rat sitting on the ship's rail. The rodent raised one tiny fore-paw and gave the young man a friendly swat, paw to finger, before scampering down the rail and through a flaw in the ship's decking. The young woman shook her head; trying to convince herself that she had _not_ seen the young man teaching the rat how to play video games on his scroll last night.

She raised a hand to her mouth, disguising a resigned sigh as a bored yawn. She liked Ron's company and would be sorry to see their journey come to an end. He was open and friendly, something that she wasn't used to in dealing with the Atlesian upper class. Once she got him to Atlas Academy, she was sure that he would be whisked into a classified laboratory while she would wind up doing...whatever she wound up doing next.

Weiss watched, only slightly interested, as the cargo hatch was winched open and a line of crewmen, longshoremen and Ron filed down the ramp and into the hold. In the kingdoms, cargo would already be in storage containers, to be quickly and efficiently winched out of the hold and onto waiting ground transportation. Here, outside the kingdoms and working with contraband, muscle power would do the job. Burly men started filing out of the ramp and down a gangplank, heaving their burdens onto a series of trucks.

"You could lend a hand," Ron pointed out, as he trudged by, several large crates of fruit on his shoulders.

"I'm on guard," she countered. "If I helped and we were attacked, I'd have to drop cargo to fight. We can't have that."

He gave her a measured look but delivered his load to the ground vehicles. She smirked at this while he came back.

"We could trade jobs," he suggested. "You could take a load while I guard, and visa-versa."

"Physical exertion is good for developing aura," she informed him. "The work is doing you good. Besides, I don't have Mystical Monkey Power."

He gave her another measured look but scampered back down into the hold, returning once more with several crates on his shoulders.

"If you're on guard, why aren't you up in the rigging, where you can see up and down the shore?" He demanded. "Someone could be among the porters by the time you saw them."

"I'm guarding against embezzlement as much as attack," she informed him. "I have to make sure you porters don't pocket some of the goods."

Again, he gave her a measured look but delivered his latest load to the vehicles.

Weiss continued to watch as her companion assisted with the offload. Between aura and his other power, he was able to haul considerably more than his fellow laborers. The night crept by as the ship became lighter, riding higher and higher in the water by the time the moon reached the western quarter of the sky. All the time, Weiss kept watch over the area and provided Ron with mostly true reasons why she shouldn't pitch in with the unloading effort.

She nearly screamed when a rat scampered out of a hole, up Ron's body and perched with it's mouth to his ear. The man's eyes became a little misty as he gave the rodent a hand back to the deck.

"We're finished," Ron told Weiss. "Robert just wanted to say goodbye."

"Robert?"

"He thinks it sounds classier than Bob," Ron shrugged.

Not knowing if he was playing her or not, she led the way to the trucks. The rough man in the lead one simply nodded at the passenger side of his own vehicle. Weiss and Ron climbed in.

"It'll be a couple of hours," Weiss told him. Ron offered a tight nod, clearly agitated about something.

The road between Atlas and this port town was narrow and very steep. The trucks moved slowly, something that clearly distressed Weiss's companion. He tapped his hands nervously on his weapons and repeatedly examined his scroll, clearly trying to keep himself occupied. Weiss guessed that he must be exited about finally getting to the scientists that may get him back home; back to his family and friends.

Back to her.

She was tempted to ask Ron to show her a picture of the girl back home...Kim. She had only a glimpse of her from the moment their souls intersected...more a feeling of how much she meant to him rather than what she looked like. Then, Weiss remembered that they weren't alone; the truck driver was a smuggler and by definition someone who was untrustworthy. Instead, she pulled her own scroll out and scanned for news about her family. As usual, there were articles about the questionable moral and legal practices her father was conducting. She sighed; it was too bad he had disinherited her. Now that she was eighteen she could have...

"Weiss?" Ron looked at his companion. "Is something wrong?"

"No..." she replied. "I'm going to have some work to do when we get to Atlas."

"Anything I can help with?"

"I don't think so," she shook her head. "Worry about yourself for right now."

While Ron didn't appear to be satisfied with her answer, he at least didn't question her further. She continued to make some plans. Kline would help, she was sure. She would have to be careful for this to work but if she could pull it off...

In due course, the trucks reached a gate. The guards gave the contents a hungry look...and were sent away with a handful of apples each. Ron looked troubled as they drove into the city proper.

"How bad is the pay if guards can be bribed with a couple of apples?" He asked.

"It's not as bad as you think," the driver spoke up. "Solitas is too far north for fruit to grow so with the embargo, it's getting rare. The scientists can make plenty of vitamin supplements for basic nutrition, but the taste of an apple or a plum is something special. Don't worry, if we had been carrying something dangerous, they wouldn't have let us through."

" _At least not without a much bigger bribe_ ," Weiss thought.

"Okay, here we are," the driver declared. They were in a narrow alley.

The driver got out and knocked on a plain door, the back entrance to some shop. A spyhole opened and words, too quiet to be understood, were exchanged. The door opened and several people stepped out.

"Keep watch," the driver told the two, after returning to his vehicle. "Police don't patrol down here very much but rival gangs might try to grab the goods."

It took a couple of hours to unload the contraband and haul it into the building. Weiss was pretty sure that by this time tomorrow, it would be distributed among the lower classes...for an inordinate amount of lien. Dawn was tinging the eastern sky when the driver approached them again.

"We're done," he told them. "I don't know who you're working for, but keep in mind that we're a resource of his...of sorts. We're not bringing in anything dangerous...in a way, we're helping to keep the peace. As long as nobody messes with us, we're not about to cause trouble. Don't go telling anyone where you dropped off the goods and everything will be fine. Now, exercise is good for you, so I'm sure you can find where you need to go, on your own."

With that, the man returned to his truck and started it up. Moments later, the small convoy had left the alley and Weiss and Ron were left alone. Weiss pulled out her scroll and called up a navigation program.

"We have a few kilometers to walk," she told him, after working the controls for a few minutes. "No problem for us, is it?"

"No," he shrugged. "Will there be any problems with the locals?"

"I don't think so, as long as we keep moving," she emphasized the point by striding purposefully out of the alley. "This is a rough part of the city, but Atlesians are a pretty law-abiding bunch. Let's just keep moving so nobody thinks we're an easy mark."

Ron nodded and the two made their way through the brightening city. Early risers were starting to appear on the streets. Here, in a rough part of town, the pair's rough clothing drew no second glances. As they continued, they entered an industrial district. While second glances were rare, they were starting to become apparent.

"As much as I hate to criticize anyone's choice in clothing," Ron whispered to his guide. "I think we're going to stick out if we get to a place dedicated to science and research."

"Let me worry about that," Weiss told him. "As much as I hate to admit it, I have way too much familiarity with the upper crust."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Ron insisted.

"I guess it's who I am," she shrugged. "Back on your world...Earth...did you ever spend time with the powerful and influential?"

"Rarely," he admitted. "There was an organization called the United Nations. It was supposed to be a meeting place for all nations to send representatives in order to resolve any differences peacefully. There was an organization within it called the General Assembly, where they all met. I parachuted into it while it was in session once...without pants."

It was a testament to Weiss's training that while she stared at him, she managed to keep moving.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"It was a very traditional group of bureaucrats," he told her. "But my "all about the comfort" explanation brought their dress code up to date."

Weiss changed their direction of travel once in the heart of the industrial district. Not all of Atlas Academy bordered on upper class neighborhoods and she was angling towards the back of the campus. As the sun finally rose above the horizon, she located an imposing gate and exposed her scroll to the scanner. After a few moments, the gate unlocked.

"Okay, now where?" Ron asked. The young man had to plant his shoulder onto the gate to swing it open, creaking hinges testified to how long it had been since this portal had been used.

"We keep close to the wall and head right," she told him. "There's a place for...special students...away from the traditional dormitories."

"By special, you mean the type that the administration doesn't want to admit are present?" He asked. With a grunt of exertion, he closed the gate behind them.

"Exactly," she told him. "The fewer questions, the better. The headmaster should know we're on his way but he's a busy man so..."

"We might have to wait for some time?"

"Yes," she nodded. "For all I know, he isn't on the campus yet."

She led the way to what appeared to be an abandoned building, but the door opened when she waved her scroll in front of it. Once inside, Ron noted that they were in an interior lobby, plain but well maintained, with perhaps a dozen doors lining the sides. She led him to one of the doors, which also opened to her scroll's presence. She ushered him into the dark space on the other side.

"What's with all of the other doors?" He asked her.

"I never asked, nobody ever told me." She said. She turned on some lights, revealing a small, but comfortable set of rooms.

"But you suspect something," he told her.

"I suspect that at least some of these other apartments are also occupied," she told him. "This one is mine. I also need my scroll to leave this apartment. Sometimes, there's a delay when I try to unlock the door. I suspect that there's an access control system that makes sure the various residents don't encounter each other."

"Man, this is really cloak and dagger stuff, isn't it?" He actually had a wide smile on his face for once. She had to admit that it looked good on him.

"I'm not familiar with the term," she informed her guest. "But I can guess what it means. Yes, this seems like the things you would read in a spy novel. Anyway, there's a small kitchenette through that door. If you'll make us something to eat, I'm going to take a shower and change into something else. After that, we'll get you cleaned up. You'll at least meet General Ironwood looking your best."

Ron couldn't argue with that. He found the cooking facilities to be tiny but reasonably well stocked. If this general were not expecting them, it could be some time before they were called. He threw a casserole together fairly quickly and got it into the oven by the time his hostess was out of the shower. After washing the dishes he had used, he stepped back into the main room. Weiss was clad in a heavy robe, pulling clothing out of a closet. She waved him towards the bathroom, so he dug his Remnant attire out of his pack and went in to clean off. Their at sea-time had left them both a little less than ideal.

When he stepped back into the apartment's main room, freshly shaved and showered, his breath caught at the sight of his hostess.

"Is something wrong?" She asked him.

"Is...this what you usually wear?" He asked her.

The white and gray dress she was wearing seemed to expose more of her legs than was practical...and Ron noticed that although she was petite, she was clearly in shape.

"Is there a problem?" She demanded.

"No, it's just that...I guess I'm used to seeing you in pants...I wasn't expecting to see you in a dress." She gave him an odd look. "You look good," he told her. "Not that you're trying to look good or anything...but...I'm just digging myself in deeper, aren't I?"

"I understand," she told him. "You clean up pretty well, yourself."

While both still felt a little awkward, the worst of the odd moment was past.

They were both saved any further embarrassment by the sound of the oven timer. As the cook, Ron served the two of them at the table...which doubled as a study desk. Apparently, whomever had designed the apartment had intended it to be occupied by a single person, but had taken into account that the occupant might have a single guest. There were two chairs and just enough room for both to sit at the table. While the casserole wasn't fancy, it was a welcome change from several days of at-sea rations. Afterwards, Ron cleaned up while Weiss did some additional research on her scroll.

"Penny for your thoughts," he told her, wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

"Hmm?" She asked.

"Figure of speech from my home," he told her. "A penny was the least valuable lien. It was a way of asking what was on your mind."

"I have a family legacy," she told him. "And my father is trampling it into the mud in the name of profit. This embargo isn't helping, and he's making sure that the faunas are suffering the most. I need to take that legacy back."

"Anything I can do to help?" He asked.

She studied him. Of course there wasn't, but she was still touched by the offer.

"Not really," she shrugged. "But I just let you know what was on my mind. I'd like to see what's on yours, in return."

"Sure, what do you want to know?" He asked.

"Ron, could you show me a picture of..."

Her request was interrupted by her scroll chiming.

"General Ironwood," she told her companion. "He's waiting for us in a secret meeting room! We have to go now!"

"What did you want to see?" He asked her.

"It's not important," she got up and pulled a fashionable jacket from her closet. "This is what you've been working towards for weeks. It's time to meet the man that can send you home."

" _To her,"_ she didn't say out loud.

To Weiss's surprise, the instructions she received didn't take them to a secret conference room, but to an elevator in a nearly-abandoned section of the administration building. The elevator took them down; and farther down...and still farther down. It opened onto a loading platform for a narrow gauge railroad, with a train waiting. They climbed aboard, Weiss scanned her scroll and the vehicle started off through a dimly lit tunnel. It accelerated steadily until they were moving at an impressive speed. "We have to be beyond the academy's property line," she mused, watching the rough walls rush by. After several minutes, the train began to decelerate until it came to a stop at another loading platform. On the platform, General Ironwood himself waited.

"Miss Schnee," he offered her a slight bow as she and her companion climbed off of the passenger car. "Welcome to one of Atlas's most advanced and confidential laboratories. I believe that introductions are in order."

"Of course," she nodded. "General Ironwood, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Ronald Stoppable, a student and hero from the planet Earth. Ron, this is General Ironwood, both head of the Atleasian Military and Headmaster of Atlas Academy."

"General," Ron nodded his head as he extended his right hand. "I understand that you may be able to use the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer to send me home."

"If anyone can, it is the Atlas Laboratories," the general shook the younger man's hand. "In return, we wish to learn as much as we can about your world."

"I'm no scientist," Ron warned him. "And I wasn't a hero, either. I was a sidekick to a heroine."

"Then she must have been a special heroine," the general told him. By now, they had passed into the laboratory itself. "Be that as it may, I would like you to turn the device over to Dr. Physiker here. She is our top physicist and has studied the nature of reality itself."

Careful not to touch it, Ron removed the device from his pack. Dr. Physiker and three engineers produced what appeared to be a glass tray for him to set it upon. For the next several minutes, he warned them about direct contact and against allowing it to contact any energy source. He also spoke to them about the few times he had observed it being used. Finally, the physicist let the engineers take the device away for a preliminary analysis while she accompanied Ron, Weiss and the general to a conference room.

It was a very long next few hours for Ron, as he found himself repeating much of the interview with Dr. Oobleck. While Weiss had a scroll recording of that entire incident for the Atlesian Doctor, she insisted upon asking some very pointed questions that the hyperactive Valite had not. When she learned that Ron had a copy of his Chemistry 101 homework on his Kimmunicator, she was very interested in a copy. Finally, she was satisfied for the moment.

"We are going to re-calibrate some of our aura-testing equipment to monitor a broader spectrum," she informed her audience. "We will then analyze Mr. Stoppable utilizing his Mystical Monkey Power. Doing this may allow us to tune in to his reality."

"May?" Ron prompted.

"We are working with unknown science, young man," she informed him, glaring at the implication that she may not be up to the challenge. "I foresee that we will have several false starts and a great deal of frustration before we achieve our goal. That said, I will require you to be here at 9:00 AM tomorrow morning. We will be ready for our preliminary tests at that time."

"How much time to analyze the data and determine the next step?" General Ironwood asked.

"It could be days or weeks," the doctor shrugged.

Ron's shoulders slumped, an action that both the general and Weiss noted.

"In the meantime, you will train with our covert students," Headmaster Ironwood informed him. "You may take on missions against the enemy that is threatening mankind on this world. I have assigned you quarters in the same building that Miss Schnee is staying in." His mouth quirked in a slight grin. "I understand the impatience of youth, Mr. Stoppable, but breakthroughs cannot be rushed. The best that you can do is keep yourself busy while waiting."

Shortly after this, the meeting broke up, with Weiss and Ron returning to their quarters. Ron found his apartment, which opened to his scroll, and stumped inside. It had been a very long night, so he fetched what few possessions he had with him from Wiess's apartment and tried to settle in for some sleep. Weiss, on the other hand, had work to do.

She first called Klein, then one of the family attorneys and finally, the family doctor. Once done, she looked at the calendar and selected a day, three weeks in the future. She was determined to make the meeting of the Schnee Dust Company Board of Directors, on the day she had selected, an interesting one, indeed.

* * *

 _A/N: As always, my thanks to you, the reader, for helping to keep me motivated to write. Huge thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for he beta reading._

 _Until next time, best wishes_

 _daccu65_


	11. Chapter 11

One of the perks of being an official military liaison officer was your own vehicle. The disadvantage was that since her hosts had provided it, it was almost certainly being tracked. Winter Schnee pulled to a stop at the customs checkpoint and climbed off of the motorcycle before being prompted. The officials were polite and efficient as they inspected the cargo containers on the vehicle. Of course, they found the disassembled firearm.

Instead of questioning her, the official merely quirked an eyebrow in her direction.

"I will be traveling between the kingdoms, captain," she dialed up her most efficient, peer-to-peer voice. "So I will want to be armed. Considering the tensions between our kingdoms, I determined it prudent to keep my weapon unusable until I left Mistral."

"Perhaps a wise precaution, captain," the official nodded. "You understand that I have to ask your destination and itinerary."

"I will travel to the independent town of Kuzey Kasabasi, on the northern coast." She told him. "There, under direct view of a Mistralian official, I will exchange correspondence and other communications with a courier from Atlas. I will then return to Mistral and continue my duties as a military liaison."

"Just as it says on the official notice," the customs officer noted, reviewing his scroll pad. "Pleasant journey, captain."

"And a good day to you, captain."

Moments later, Winter Schnee was on the bike, making good time to the east. She didn't want to admit it, but she loved the feel of the powerful engine under her control, the way that the vehicle responded to the slight shifts of her weight. Her face concealed behind the tinted face-mask, she allowed a smile onto her features, prompted by the feel of the wind and the forces of acceleration applied to her body. Knowing that she was certainly being watched, possibly even recorded, she slalomed just a little bit on the open road.

If anyone questioned her later, she would insist that she was merely testing the bike's responsiveness, in case she needed to perform radical maneuvers at a later time.

The kilometers flew by while the sun crawled across the sky. It was early evening when the northern sea, and the walls of Kuzey Kasabasi, came into view. While the port city wasn't officially part of the Kingdom of Mistral, the kingdom's investment and influence was obvious. This was the closest independent seaport to the capital and the Mistral Council was determined to keep it active, functioning and friendly. She answered some perfunctory questions at the gate before riding, at a much more sedate pace, to her favorite inn. Fortunately, there were rooms available. She checked in and looked to her appearance. Minutes later, Captain Winter Schnee, officer of the Atlesian Military, stepped out of the inn and made her way with crisp, decisive strides to the town hall.

Once there, she was quickly ushered to a meeting room where Lieutenant Bote, from the Atlesian Courier Corps, waited. The two did not exchange any words. They merely handed satchels to a Mistralian officer. After this officer examined the contents, he allowed them to be exchanged. The lieutenant offered her a salute, which she returned. Without changing her expression, she performed an about face and marched out of the meeting room, out of the town hall and back to her inn. She kept the satchel on her person as she enjoyed a meal in the inn's common room before retiring to her own room. Once there, she pulled off her uniform and carefully hung it in the closet. She pulled on a dark, form-fitting outfit before turning on the scroll-screen and tuning in to a news channel. For a few hours, she divided her time between reading her latest instructions and watching local news. When it was finally dark outside, Winter Schnee the spy stood up from the chair that Winter Schnee the military captain had sat upon.

Winter removed the disassembled firearm from her traveling bag and placed it, as well as some papers, into a dark bag that fit on a harness, secured to her back. She went into the bathroom and stuffed a towel into a pouch on her right thigh before forming a glyph in the air and springing upon it. From her vantage point, she accessed the exhaust fan. The said appliance in this particular room was mounted on a base plate larger than necessary, and one which could be detached from the ceiling. She set the fan to the side in the attic and climbed up into the space, clicking on a small but powerful flashlight. She returned the fan to it's proper location before stalking through the attic to a ventilation grille, which led to a lower roof, once there, she scrambled down a downspout and to the ground.

The inn was located just off the seashore, but well away from the busy docks. Winter trotted to the water's edge before turning and putting more distance between her and the docks. Soon, the seashore was illuminated only by the distant lights of the town. Satisfied, she first looked around to confirm she was alone, then directed her scroll towards the water and tapped a particular petition with a particular code. A green light showed on the screen in response. Looking into the ocean, she could barely make out the gentle surf breaking on a periscope.

With no hesitation, she yanked off her dark outfit and fitted the harness for the back pouch back on her body. Naked as the day she was born, she dove into the chill water and swam quickly out towards the periscope. While she was swimming, a small conning tower emerged and a hatch opened. A man wearing a dark outfit slipped out and hopped down onto a deck, just below the water. With no sign of embarrassment, Winter scrambled onto the submarine's deck and pulled the pouch off of her back.

"This has to go to General Ironwood, critical priority," she told the man. He merely nodded in response and handed her a replacement pouch.

"Do you have anything for me?" She asked, connecting the pouch to her harness.

"Only this," he told her, showing no interest in her nudity. "Your sister has completed her fist mission and is safely back in Atlas."

She offered a tight nod, a momentary look of relief on her face. Realizing that there was no further information or instructions forthcoming, she dove back into the water and swam back to shore. By the time she was back on land, the submarine had vanished. It would be back in Atlas within two weeks.

While the night was fairly warm, the water had been very cold, so Winter rushed to where she had left her clothing and pulled the towel out of the thigh pouch. She had just started to dry herself when she heard the sound of two people walking along the shore. A flashlight illuminated the shoreline as the duo searched the waterline. Winter quickly shifted her scroll and wallet to the back pouch before pulling her saber out of its sheath. By this time, the two strangers had spotted the trail of disturbed gravel she had made when she entered and exited the ocean. They quickly followed the trail towards her. Spotting her feet, they illuminated her with the light, then quickly lowered it.

 _"At least they're polite,_ " she thought.

"Kuzey Kasabasi town watch!" A harsh voice introduced the newcomers. "Who are you and what are you doing on the shore at night?"

"My name is Captain Winter Schnee," she informed her questioner, in the most imperious voice she had. "I am the Atlesian military liaison to Mistral."

"And what is an Atlesian doing here?" The voice demanded.

The light rose again. She held her towel in front of her lower body, but she remained uncovered from the waist up. When the flashlight's illumination revealed this to the watchmen, it quickly lowered back to her knees.

"Official business between Atlas and Mistral," she coldly informed them. "The meeting took place in your town hall, witnessed by one of your own city officials."

"No!" The voice sounded a little flustered. The two had gotten close enough that she could see her questioners' faces in the reflected light. "What are you doing on the shore, after dark...naked?"

"I was not aware that Kuzey Kasabasi had a curfew or a dress code," she countered. She noted that the two men were fairly young, probably in their early twenties.

"We don't," one of them, possessing the voice that had done all of the talking, answered. "We've had reports of attempted smuggling."

"My carrying capacity is extremely small at the moment," she informed him. "So you need not worry that I am bringing contraband into your town." She used her saber to gesture towards herself.

Her questioner brought the light up again and, upon confirming that her carrying capacity was very limited, lowered it again. Winter had to consciously work to keep the smirk from her face. She was putting the young man through a very difficult time.

"Captain or not, I'm the one with authority here," he informed her. It was a true statement. "And your presence here is highly suspect."

"I enjoy swimming, guardsman," she informed the man. "And I find swimming in cold water to be quite invigorating."

The light played up her body again, all the way to her face. Clearly the guardsmen saw that her hair was soaked. She was also aware that her upper body was still reacting to the cold immersion...much to the interest and discomfort of the guardsmen. The light returned to her knees. The young men must have been going through hell...wanting to look at her but trying maintain some semblance of proper behavior.

"Why at nighttime?" The leader of the duo asked.

"I don't like being leered at," she informed him.

"And your weapon?" He prompted.

"I do not know whom, or what I may encounter," she retorted. "You said yourself that there are smugglers in the area. I don't like the idea of such men finding me vulnerable. I would rather have my blade and not need it, than need it and not have it."

"Please get dressed," he requested. "We'll need to photograph you and include the photo with our report. I'd rather not cause any more embarrassment than necessary."

While Winter kept her stern demeanor firmly in place, she complied with his request. She was, first and foremost, a military officer. As such, she had no intent to make life difficult for people who were simply doing their jobs.

Even if she was deceiving them.

After photographing her, they 'offered' to escort her back to her room. She complied, knowing that that the offer was really confirming that she had a room. She forced herself to look properly chagrined when the innkeeper informed her that there would be a fee for taking a room towel to the shore.

"My apologies," the leader offered her a slight bow. "But suspicious times call for a certain level of suspicion."

"I am a military officer," she informed him. "I fully understand the need for security. I wish the two of you a good night."

"And to yourself," another slight bow and the two guardsmen stalked off to continue their patrol.

Winter didn't know if she should hope they had quiet, uneventful duty for the rest of the night or if they would prefer finding more skinny-dippers. She _did_ know that the two guardsmen had inadvertently supported her cover story for being out of her room. Whomever Mistral had assigned to observe her would have difficulty explaining how he failed to see her exit the inn. _That_ was well worth the minimal fee for taking a room towel to the ocean.

Now in her room, she first confirmed that the bathroom's exhaust fan was seated perfectly in its proper space. After that, she rinsed off the salt water before preparing for bed. Winter Schnee the spy slept well, knowing that she had, once again, executed her duties flawlessly. The next morning, Winter Schnee, the liaison officer enjoyed the long ride back to Mistral. She deliberately entered via a gate other than the one that she exited, so that the previous customs official wouldn't ask questions about her missing firearm. After checking in at the embassy, she went to her office to carefully read the latest dispatches from Atlas.

Now was the waiting game; would the teens be able to track the firearms and other items outside of the kingdom? Would they be able to handle the primitive communications equipment when it came time to report? The hardest part of a surveillance operation was waiting for news, and it was hours before sunset.

* * *

Ruby had come to the conclusion that pants were horrible. These sturdy, canvas jeans, similar to what Jaune wore, were not like her comfortable, flexible pajama bottoms. These things were stiff and confining. She didn't have the full range of motion in her hips and knees that her combat dress and tights allowed and the legs _swished_ against each other with every step. She also missed her hood, although she had to admit that Jaune's hoodie made a decent substitute.

"Tell me again why I had to make this major change to my wardrobe," she growled at Jaune.

"We've gone over it a dozen times," he rolled his eyes. "Your wardrobe is too well known. If Torchwick or Mercury spot you in pants and a hoodie, with the hood up, they might not recognize you. Besides, we've all made changes." He gestured to himself, where a rough, canvas overall covered his armor.

They _had_ gone over it a dozen times. Ruby had even agreed when her teammates suggested it. It didn't mean she couldn't complain about it. There really wasn't much else to do at the moment.

"So why are the two of us up here while Ren and Nora go into the town?" She demanded.

"We've only gone over this a half-dozen times," he sighed. "Torchwick, Mercury, Emerald and Cinder are very familiar with you. Cinder probably remembers me. Ren and Nora are about the closest thing we have to someone they don't know all that well." He glared at her. "Once you were out for going into town and trying to detect the bugs, I was as well. Ren and Nora go nowhere without each other."

Ruby grumbled and returned her eye to Crescent Rose's scope. Here, on the inland lake's marshy, eastern shore, high, dry ground like they now occupied was rare. Two kilometers away, a larger piece of high ground held a village. Yesterday, while traveling the single-lane trail, they had detected the bugs in this village. Since then, no wagons or carts large enough to carry the heavy crates had left the settlement...at least none that the team had noticed. Ren and Nora had left two hours ago to confirm that the crates were still in the teamster's barn, as well as pick up some supplies and hopefully, news.

Through the scope, Ruby had watched her friends walk into the village, past the barn, and to the village's combination general store and tavern. Since then, the only visible activity had been the local fishermen returning to the docks, with small boats fully loaded with fish, clams or crabs.

"So what do we do if they haul the crates off by boat?" Ruby suddenly asked.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"We've been so sure they'll move things by carts, what if they bring in boats to take them...wherever they're taking them to?"

This question caught Jaune by surprise. Ruby felt a sense of satisfaction that she had brought up something that nobody else had thought of...even if she hadn't thought about it until that moment, herself.

"Could one of these fishing boats carry those heavy crates?" Jaune asked her.

"How would I know?" She demanded.

" _You're_ the one who lives on an island!" He snapped in return.

"So I'm an expert on boats?" She snarled back.

"You should..." he caught himself before continuing the argument. Although he didn't say anything, Ruby was chagrined, herself.

"We shouldn't be taking the frustration out on each other," she murmured, her way of apologizing.

"Yeah," he agreed, in a quiet tone. He rubbed his chin, clearly thinking of something.

"Okay," he finally decided. "You made a very good point. We noticed that the water level gets very low during low tide, so if they move the goods by boat, it's going to be at high tide."

Ruby nodded, it made sense to her.

"The village only has small boats and the crates are heavy, so if Torchwick takes the goods away by boat, it's either going to take a lot of them, or it's going to take a long time."

Ruby nodded again.

"One last thought," he continued. "The boats around here are made to handle the marshes but I don't think that they'd handle the open lake very well. If the stuff goes by boat, it's either going to be a long trip through the swamps, or they're going to take them out to open water and put them on a ship."

"So what do we do if that happens?" Ruby asked. This time, her tone was questioning rather than demanding.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Yet. You've given us something to think about."

Ruby suddenly felt honest satisfaction for bringing up her doubt. She returned her eye to her scope, feeling much better. Soon, that eye flew wide.

"Torchwick just came out of the barn and is heading towards the docks" she told her companion.

"Any sign of Mercury or Meow?" He asked.

"Neo," she corrected. "And no, I don't see either one."

Ruby continued to observe the orange-haired man as he spoke to a small crowd of the local fisherman, gesturing with his arms before lighting a cigar. The fishermen wound up with looks of both amusement and irritation, eventually nodding to the crook. Ruby could well understand their plight, Torchwick's strange combination of condescension, self-depreciation and logic could be hard to argue with, even when it irritated you.

"It looks like the caravan is showing up...pretty close to right on time."

Jaune's report nearly caused Ruby to take her eye off of the scope, but she kept at her station. The trail leading to this village was a winding, single lane, slightly higher than the water level. According to the few locals they had spoken to, a train of mule-drawn wagons came down from the north late every morning and dropped off goods at the teamsters' barn. It would then pick up the village's produce, pack it in ice crystals, and haul it back to the north. The trail wasn't far from their current location, so Jaune could keep a close enough eye on the wagons. Instead of looking at the trail, Ruby swept the village again.

"Torchwick seems to be done talking to the fishermen," she reported. "He's heading back towards the barn."

"There's a shorter person with the caravan," Jaune told her. "Whoever it is, they're wearing a hood, baggy clothes and their hips are really swaying when they walk."

Ruby immediately turned the scope on the caravan. It only took seconds to spot the person Jaune was talking about. She had the same suspicions that her friend had, which were only reinforced when the caravan reached the village and the person of interest walked immediately to Torchwick. The orange-haired man got a resigned, irritated look on his face before offering an overly grand, mocking bow. The subject's hands went immediately to her hips...Ruby _knew_ she was observing Emerald.

The two criminals walked towards the barn while Torchwick waved his arms. Ruby could almost hear his voice bragging about how he had everything under control...which maddened her, since he usually did. As they approached the building, Mercury emerged. Emerald pulled back her hood, which allowed Ruby to remove the last bits of doubt about who they were watching. She reported the confirmation to Jaune.

"I hope Nora and Ren will be okay," he grumbled.

Ruby agreed with him, but kept her eye on the trio. Emerald appeared to question Mercury, who's answers included gestures at the barn, the trail and the dock. The girl then gave Roman a hard look, which he returned with an impudent expression, lighting his cigar again. Emerald then stormed into the barn. Torchwick and Mercury shared a shrug before following her. After a few minutes, Ren and Nora, also wearing disguises, emerged from the pub and joined the crowd in the village square. There, the local teamsters' representative was standing by the town's scales as the fishermen cued up to weigh their catch.

Lien were exchanged for the swamp's bounty, teamsters guided their wagons through the square to pick up the goods, and Nora spoke to both teamster and fisherman while Ren kept an eye on the teamsters' barn. When roughly three quarters of the catch was weighed, paid for and loaded, the two hunters exited the town. Ruby kept a close eye on the barn, but none of the crooks emerged and there was no sign that anyone took note of Ren and Nora leaving.

It took their friends over an hour to reach them, as they used a roundabout way to get to their lookout position. All the while, Ruby and Jaune took turns observing the village through Crescent Rose's scope. At one point, Torchwick and Mercury emerged from the barn and spoke to fishermen again. When the caravan finished loading and left, Emerald didn't go with them. Shortly after the wagons disappeared to the north, Team RNJR reassembled.

"Torchwick is hiring fishing boats," Nora reported, when they were together again. "He offered the fishermen a little over twice the lien they would earn for a day's catch, in order to take bundles of hardware, no questions asked, to a location to the southwest."

The team quickly looked over their maps, even though they knew that not every village was shown.

"A major trade trade route approaches the swamps about thirty five kilometers in that direction," Ruby pointed out.

"He said that they'd be gone for two days," Nora added. "One day out, one day back, and he'd see to it that they were fed and put up for the night."

"The local teamsters' representative wasn't happy," Ren continued. "He complained that they wouldn't have cargo to carry if the fishermen were making deliveries instead of fishing. After this, Torchwick offered to compensate him, as long as he carried a couple of heavy loads to the north. We didn't learn where they were going, but the teamsters were to deliver them to a village about forty kilometers from here."

That brought on another close examination of the map.

"There's another village at about that point," Nora's finger stabbed down onto the illustration. "It's supposed to be bigger than this one."

"When are the fishermen supposed to haul off the hardware?" Jaune asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Nora told him. "Torchwick wanted it done tonight, but they don't like the idea of traveling the swamps after dark."

"The teamsters agree," Ren added. "They say that the swamps are full of lithobates, a kind of giant frog grimm. They're supposed to be scared of light and heat, but will come out and attack at night or on overcast days."

"We've been fine here," Ruby pointed out. "And there isn't much cover on this little piece of ground."

"We also haven't been making a commotion," Ren countered. "And we may have been fortunate. I'd suggest that we trust the locals' judgment."

"So now we have a decision to make," Jaune pointed out. "Do we try to follow the hardware on the boats or do we try to follow the heavy loads to the north?"

The other three looked at each other, debating what to do.

"I say we follow the heavy loads," Jaune told them. "If I'm right, Torchwick is going to have the guns taken by boat...each crate of guns can be opened up and divided across several boats. They're better than the guns we've dealt with before, but they're still just guns. I think Torchwick is going to take the other things, those big cylinders with the funny symbols on them, on the carts. We don't know what they are, so that's what we need to track."

The other three remained quiet for a couple of minutes, each thinking.

"We are capable of tracking the wagons," Ren pointed out. "Once the boats get into the waterways, it will be very difficult for us to follow them and remain unseen."

"We don't have to follow the carts," Nora informed her friends. "Teamsters like to talk to pretty girls, and this trail runs to the north, with no branches or other way off of it, all the way to the next village. Tomorrow morning we can get on the trail, pass by the caravan as it comes this way, and be waiting for it when it arrives at that village. By then, we might have an idea about where it's going to go next."

"It would look much less conspicuous than if we were to follow the caravan," Ren pointed out.

"I think we have our plan," Jaune agreed, "But we have to report this to Winter."

The others nodded and pulled the equipment that Winter had given them out of their packs. There was a coil of wire, a small box that contained lightning crystals, and some interconnection cables. Ren took Jaune's place on watch, while the blonde composed a message on his scroll. After that, they had to extend the wire, horizontally, to its full extent. It was too long to extend on their high ground, so after some prodding, Jaune, being the tallest of the party, stripped down to his briefs. Nora provided some applause, along with some less than polite comments, as the blonde man waded through the murky water to a handy tree. He used a rope and a connector to attache the wire, so that it extended straight and reasonably level over the water. Ruby giggled as he returned to their camp.

The giggling and bawdy comments died when Jaune, an ashen expression on his face, lumbered out of the water to reveal the leaches on his legs.

Instead, everyone pointedly looked the other way while he borrowed a dagger from Ren and scraped the loathsome things from his flesh. They continued to look away while he put on dry undergarments and got dressed again. Finally, they gathered together and looked at the device that was supposed to communicate with Winter.

"She said that she had an automated receiving system," Nora pointed out. "And that we could transmit at any time."

"She also said that communicating would be best after dark," Ren countered. "Something about the atmosphere. That's why she can only guarantee that she'll be monitoring a half hour before, and after, sundown."

"We wait," Jaune told them. "There's no sense in draining the crystals when nobody's listening. She might need to tell us to do something about this."

The remainder agreed and set about making a decent meal. There could be several days upcoming with no hot food available, so they wanted to make this meal worth remembering. Fortunately, shrimp, clams and crabs were inexpensive in the village and Ren and Nora had brought back a substantial amount, so they had a feast. As the sun met the western horizon, Jaune connected the wire and his scroll to the device and activated the proper petition. A red indicator blinked on his scroll a couple of times, letting him know that it was trying to make contact with Winter's receiver. Then, the light changed to green. Contact had been made and his message was sent.

* * *

Sometimes, lower technology was the answer. This was a hard truth for a member of the Altesian Military, and a Schnee, to accept. However, with the CCT system down, old-fashioned, short-wave radio had to do for anything beyond line-of-sight. Captain Schnee tried to keep her attention on the dispatches, both official and covert, that she had received from home. In the back of her mind, she listened for the automated monitoring system to let her know it was receiving a transmission. The silence was maddening.

Had she sent a group of teens off to their deaths?

While her face didn't show it, her heart nearly leapt from her chest when her scroll buzzed a particular tone, letting her know that this particular team was reporting in. She kept he composure, getting up from her office in the embassy and making her way with an unhurried, yet brisk pace, to her personal quarters. Once there, she read the message that her automated systems had already decoded:

 _Subject one and three have been at location 4A for the last two days. Subject four joined them yesterday. Have not observed subject two. Subject one is hiring boats to carry items to the south and wagons to carry items to the north. Suspect that he is sending contraband items one via boat and contraband items two via cart. Will attempt to track items carried by cart._

A frown found its way onto her face. She had not anticipated that Torchwick would divide his cargo. After a few minutes' thought, she realized that the team had made the correct decision; attempting to follow the contraband via boat would be too obvious. She typed her reply into her scroll then activated the proper petition to code it and send it.

In the embassy attic, a length of exposed wire, which just happened to be the correct length to support transmissions of the wavelength she was using, started to radiate.

* * *

In the swamps to the west of Mistral, Team RNJR was finishing their meal when a rapid green blink showed up on Jaune's scroll. Moments later, they had a message to read:

 _Concur with your decision. Keep me appraised on any developments._

The four teens looked at each other, knowing they would be on the move in the morning. Jaune disassembled the transceiver then, with a heavy sigh, started to disrobe again.

"I can recover the cable," Ren offered.

"If the leaches gave me any diseases, I already have them," Jaune answered. "There's no sense in two of us getting sick."

"We could wait until morning," Ruby suggested. "It will be a lot less creepy doing this in the light."

"But what if the wagons come early tomorrow?" Jaune countered. "What if something else happens? We have to take care of this now...just in case we have to move quickly." Now clad only in his briefs, he forced himself back into the muddy water.

As the last light faded from the sky the blonde returned to their dry patch, again with leaches on his body. The rest of the team turned their backs while he borrowed Ren's dagger again, and scraped the horrid things from his flesh. Staring out at the swamp, creeped out by the occasional sounds of disgust her friend was making, Ruby saw two yellowish glimmers of reflected firelight. For a moment, she watched them, curious, until she realized that they were getting closer. Soon, some more reflections appeared.

"Grimm!" She hissed, scrambling to unfold Crescent Rose.

She provided just enough warning for her teammates to to be startled. A grimm, which looked like a giant frog, hopped out of the dark water and opened its mouth. A large, slimy tongue burst out of its mouth and stuck to Jaune's left arm. The nearly naked young man dug his feet into the ground, so he wasn't pulled off of his feet, yet the lithobate, pulled by its own tongue, managed to leap upon him and engulf the arm. Jaune snarled in pain and surprise, but put his borrowed dagger to good use, stabbing the creature in the eye. Ruby was suddenly distracted by another tongue, hitting her on the leg.

Ruby wasn't as large as Jaune, so the grim managed to pull her feet out from under her. Before she could bring Crescent Rose to bear, one leg had gone into the grimm's mouth up to her knee. Jaws, thankfully lacking teeth, clamped onto her with frightening force. Before she could attempt a slash, Nora was there. Her friend angled her strike carefully, crushing the grimm's head without hitting Ruby's leg. Another tongue emerged from the water, affixing to Nora's right forearm. The girl, the strongest of the four, gave an evil chuckle, dug in her feet and used the tongue to swing the grimm over her head to slam into the ground with enough force that Ruby felt it through her feet.

"Aw, it croaked!" Nora whined. Then she was spinning to deal with another one.

Ruby flinched at the bad pun, but scanned for her next opponent. The grimm seemed to be concentrating on Jaune. The blonde boy was still clad only in his briefs, but had recovered his sword and shield. He blocked a tongue with the shield while impaling a leaping grim with his sword. Ruby rushed forward and severed the tongue stuck to his shield. The maimed lithobate still leaped forward and Ruby delivered an overhand slash that split it from chin to crotch.

Behind her, another grimm launched its tongue at Jaune, only to have Ren intercept it with his left blade, slice off the appendage with his right blade, then tear into it with both. Two more attacked the blonde, only for one to be met with the point of his blade and the other to catch his knee under its chin. It staggered back to meet Nora's hammer. Then, there was suddenly calm.

Jaune scrambled to get his clothing back on.

"Why were they after Jaune?" Nora asked. "Do they like blondes or naked people?"

Ruby giggled a little.

"It was probably the leaches," Ren informed her. "He was disgusted by them, and the grimm are attracted to negative emotions."

"So what do we do?" Ruby asked.

"We remain calm," he shrugged. "Now that we have fought off this group, if we control our emotions, we should have no more problems than we did last night. Let's build up the fire some more and be cheerful. Perhaps we could find some other way to generate positive feelings."

"Jaune could take his pants off again," Nora suggested.

"What!?" The whites of Jaune's eyes were clearly visible. Ruby snickered into her hand while Ren did his best to conceal a smile.

"I'm serious," Nora continued. "That armor weighs what, fifteen, twenty kilos? And he's worn it across two continents now. It's done wonders for his buns and thighs."

"Nora!" Jaune protested.

"Look, I don't mind if you strip down again, and I'm pretty sure it will help Ruby's attitude, as well." She assured her friend. "Won't it, Ruby?"

"I...er...I...well..." Ruby now looked every bit a flustered as Jaune.

"Maybe we should get you an outfit that has tights or shorts, instead of pants," Nora continued. "I'm not above fluttering my eyelashes to make the teamsters and village boys more talkative," she demonstrated the gesture. "So maybe showing off your haunches will make the village girls a little more chatty."

"What?" Jaune clearly didn't believe this conversation was taking place. Ren was now unable to conceal his smile while Ruby had her hand over her mouth, trying to hold in the guffaws.

"Oh, you don't want to charm the village girls?" Nora asked. "Okay, you can try for the village boys. It's your choice."

"Nora!?"

"Neither boys or girls?" Nora shrugged. "Okay, you can see what village livestock thinks, I don't judge."

"NORA!"

Ruby was unable to keep upright. The look on Jaune's face had her laughing harder that the first time she saw Pumpkin Pete on his hoodie. She fell to the ground, her feet waving weakly in the air.

Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, and Jaune's emotion wasn't very positive at the moment. However, any dark thoughts he was thinking were overcome by the humor the other three experienced.

No more grimm approached their camp that night.

* * *

"So what have you accomplished?" As always, there weren't enough hours in the day for General Ironwood to see to everything that the defense of Atlas, and the teaching of the Academy's students, required. He was running on willpower and coffee but he took the time to check on the latest research project.

"We've made only minor progress," Dr. Physiker informed him. "But we've made some major, unrelated breakthroughs."

"What progress have you made?" The general prompted.

"We believe...and I stress _believe_...that we have determined how the device opens portals through realities." The doctor told him. "It validates string theory."

"Give me a layman's description," Ironwood ordered.

"Very well," the doctor nodded. "The theory is that all matter, down to subatomic particles, is composed of strings of proto-matter. This proto-matter vibrates and the vibrations dictate the reality...or phase...in which the matter exists. So far, it appears that the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer acts to create a re-calibration zone, in which it changes the vibrations of proto-matter entering from one reality to the vibrations of another."

"And you've confirmed this theory?"

"We've managed to create very small holes to other realities," the woman stated. "But not, I believe, to Mr. Stoppable's. The frequencies and sub-harmonics involved make the number of possible alternate realities beyond infinite. In fact, our concept of the nature of infinity may have been too small."

"So there's no hope of sending him back?"

"We originally thought we could make use of his Mystical Monkey Power," by now, Dr. Physiker had called up a file on her scroll and was perusing it while updating the general. "However, it appears that this power originates from yet another reality. This power manifests through Mr. Stoppable. The reality in question seems to consists of only energy, without any matter. Even if we could open a portal large enough for him to pass through, he would not be able to survive in such a universe."

"So there _is_ no hope of sending him back." General Ironwood concluded.

"Not necessarily," the physicist countered. "We need to be able to monitor some form of interaction between Mr. Stoppable and his original reality. One of the stories he has told us is of an object he calls the Lotus Blade. It is apparently connected somehow to the Mystical Monkey Power, which we have learned is capable of interacting with Mr. Stoppable in this reality. Apparently, Mr. Stoppable can both call this weapon to him and cause it to change form."

"So you're going to have him try to summon the blade, while you monitor," Ironwood nodded.

"Oh no!" Physiker corrected him. "If he does that, we will lose the only toehold we have in his universe. No, we will have him attempt to change its form. Since it's an interactive process, we should be able to detect the...fingerprint vibrations...from his universe via the energies it sends back to him...the feedback, if you will. We are almost ready for the first observation. Of course, this will be an initial test. We will be using a very broad band receiver. Should we be successful, we will need to re-calibrate our test equipment to a more narrow field, so that we can pick up sub-harmonics. It will certainly take multiple observations to get the proper fix on his universe...assuming that this works."

"When will you make the first observation?" The general asked.

"It will take place in thirty minutes," the doctor informed her guest and patron. "You are, of course, welcome to observe."

"I think I will," Ironwood nodded. "In the meantime, perhaps you can describe, in generalities of course, the major breakthroughs that you've made."

"Indeed," the physicist smiled. She led the general deeper into the laboratory complex. "I won't get into the social structure of his culture, but the young man was attending an educational institution similar to one of our academies. He was seeking to become what he calls a physical therapist, or someone who helps another rehabilitate from wounds or injuries. One of the courses a first year student must take is basic chemistry."

"I find it difficult to believe that a Remnant-famous physicist would find a basic chemistry class enlightening," Ironwood confessed.

"It turns out that the scientists in his reality catalog and organize the elements slightly differently than we do," the physicist smiled back. "On his...Kimmunicator...he had a copy of what they call the Periodic Table of the Elements. It is similar, but not identical, to our own Elemental Catalog. Those differences have pushed our own understanding...substantially."

Now, the scientist's smile faded. "They have identified and quantified elements that simply do not exist on Remnant, probably not in our universe. The heaviest and most complex atoms in his reality are absent from ours."

"Interesting," Ironwood conceded. "But hardly a breakthrough."

"Unless you take two additional items into account," Physiker countered him. "The first is theoretical. I believe that energy eventually merges with existing matter, altering it to some extent. This is why there are elements in his universe that don't exist in ours."

The physicist took an excited, shuddering breath, "I believe that his universe is considerably older than ours. Certain energies, such as dust and aura, are not present in his universe, while what we call magic is much more rare. I postulate that this is because these energies have already been absorbed into matter, altering the matter into forms that are not present in ours."

"I won't challenge you to go into details," the general shrugged his shoulders. "But what is the second item?"

"We know that a criminal with a very high degree of scientific capability in his universe...this Professor Dementor...was trading with a villain of some sort on this planet." The doctor pointed out. "And this makes me question the very nature as to how matter, energy and humanity interact on their world as opposed to ours. Here on Remnant, we have easy access to energy, in the form of dust. Because of this, much of our technology is more advanced than his, since we have only had to learn to harness energy, not make it available in the first place."

"On the other hand, the people on his world have had to obtain energy from matter or, more precisely, the interaction of matter. This means that although they have more difficulty producing energy, they are capable of producing more of it when they manage. Ron has already told of bullets that fly faster than the speed of sound. This is beyond the experience of most soldiers and hunters on our planet, and this is a very common example of the technology on his world. What else did this rogue scientist send to our universe? Our protectors; our hunters, police and soldiers, may be as out of their depth when facing an example of Earth weaponry as their protectors would be when facing ours."

A buzz from the general's scroll interrupted the conversation. General Ironwood looked at his device and noted that a high alert symbol was present.

"Ironwood," he spoke into the device.

"General, this is Major Wachsam of the Intelligence Division. We have just received unofficial correspondence from Captain Schnee."

"I am in the research center for Project Unreal," the general told his subordinate. "Send the materials to me by automated courier."

"Yes sir,"

"You were saying, doctor?" He prompted his host.

"I was finished," the physicist informed him. "We are now ready to observe the data collection. Here comes Mr. Stoppable now."

Through the thick safety glass, General Ironwood saw an engineer usher the subject into a research pod, very similar to the ones they had used to attempt to channel the Fall Maiden's power from Amber to Pyrrha Nikos. Once the subject was seated, Dr. Physiker addressed him via a microphone.

"Ah, Mr. Stoppable, just to make sure that you know exactly what to do, could you please tell me your instructions before we proceed?" Dr. Phsiker spoke over a microphone.

"You want me to change the Lotus Blade's form," he answered. "Without calling it to me."

"Indeed," Physiker nodded. "Keep in mind that this weapon is your only link to your own universe. Should you successfully call it here, we will probably be unable to ever open a portal to your home reality."

Ron looked suitably nervous.

"Very well, I will be in communication with you as you undergo the procedure. Let me know immediately if you feel discomfort, pain or fatigue."

"Yes, doctor," Ron assured him, as the door swung shut, sealing him in the pod.

"The young man didn't tell me he was experiencing such symptoms during one of our earlier procedures," Doctor Physiker answered General Ironwood's questioning expression, the microphone turned off. "He emerged barely able to stand. He apparently wants to go home very badly. It's sad really, as...oh, we're ready." She activated her microphone, "go ahead, Mr. Stoppable, proceed."

James Ironwood, the Headmaster of Atlas Academy and therefore, nominally responsible for Mr. Stoppable's well-being, watched closely as a sense of concentration fell over Ron's face. Soon after this, his skin took on a bluish tint.

"Ah, he seems to be utilizing the Mystical Monkey Power in order to influence the weapon," Dr. Physiker commented. The microphone was off again. "We can filter such influence out of our readings." She turned on her microphone. "Speak to me, Mr. Stoppable, what are you experiencing?"

"It takes more work than it does when the blade is in my hand," Ron's voice sounded over a speaker. "It's sort of like telling my little sister, from a distance, to put away her toys. I have to repeat the commands over and over."

"An excellent analogy," the doctor told him. "Younger sisters can be most trying! You are sensing the weapon responding, no?"

"It's very faint," Ron confessed. "I think I can feel it, but it could just be my imagination."

"Continue," Physiker ordered, her eyes widening on a monitor. "Our instruments are picking up a power as we speak. We will attempt to isolate its attributes as much as possible."

"Ron, this is General Ironwood," James now addressed the microphone, having noted sweat beading on the young man's forehead. "I would like to repeat the good doctor's instructions; let her know if you experience pain or exhaustion."

"It's tiring," Ron admitted. "But I'll let everyone know if it gets as tiring as a good workout."

"That's reasonable," the headmaster nodded, even though Ron couldn't observe this gesture of approval.

"Mr. Stoppable," Dr. Physiker now addressed the subject. "We are getting short bursts of energy from what I believe is your reality. However, we will proceed faster if we can lengthen the bursts. Is there forms that the weapon can assume, but might take longer to achieve?"

"I could try to change it to a new form," Ron shrugged. "But what..." suddenly, the young man got a satisfied smile on his face. "I'm trying something new."

"It seems to be working," the physicist noted, looking at her monitor screen with a look of excitement. Headmaster Ironwood, observing the increasing strain on Ron's face, seemed less enthusiastic.

After several minutes of this, during which Ron started to gasp for breath and sweat started to pour out of him, James Ironwood opened his mouth to call a halt. He was interrupted by Dr. Physiker.

"That is sufficient, Mr. Stoppable," she told the man. "We have reached the limits to what we can analyze at this time. We must now re-calibrate our instruments, to focus more specifically upon your universe's unique fingerprint."

"How long will that take?" Ron asked, gasping for breath.

"It may take us a couple of weeks to prepare this chamber," the doctor admitted. "And even then, it won't be the last re-configuration. I am opening the pod at this time. When I do, please meet me in the debriefing room. I think a modicum of comfort is in order when discussing our next move."

"I'd like to be present," James Ironwood added, noting that his scroll had just informed him that the automated courier had arrived. "There are some items I would like to discuss with you."

Ron was feeling a little shaky on his feet when he left the pod; shaky enough that he was more than ready to take a seat in the debriefing room as soon as he reached it. Of course, if this brought him closer to home, it was worth it. He forced himself to look at the bright side; he was now getting closer. Every trial brought him closer to his parents; closer to Hana and Rufus.

Closer to KP.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud thump as the physicist set a large bottle of a sports drink on the table next to him. Ron started to get to his feet, but both the doctor and the headmaster waved him to remain seated. Nodding in gratitude, he opened the drink and sucked down both water and electrolytes. He couldn't fault the doctor her manners...unlike a certain engineer...

For several minutes, Dr. Physiker discussed what she was trying to accomplish. While most of it was well over Ron's head, what parts he could understand were mostly reiterating previous discussions. When the doctor told him that she was able to obtain data much faster when Ron changed the Lotus Blade to non-standard forms, the blonde man smiled.

He could only hope that someone at Yamanouchi had seen the blade change, would understand the significance of the forms, and would then get the word out. Ron was feeling better about his situation than he had for months.

"Ron," General Ironwood addressed him, once the physicist was finished. "I have recovered some items that may have been traded from your world to ours. I'd like you to look at them and tell me if you recognize them."

Ron nodded as the general pulled a bag out of what appeared to be a floating box.

"That's some sort of assault rifle," Ron told him, when Ironwood pulled a weapon out of the bag. "As well as a magazine of ammunition. I can't tell you the exact type, or what nation it comes from."

"Would this be a standard weapon for the soldiers on your world?" The general asked.

Ron nodded.

"So they would be common, made to be produced by the thousands?"

Ron nodded again. The general sighed.

"What's wrong," Ron asked the older man. "Is it general or headmaster?"

"General," Ironwood answered. "An operative of mine encountered men armed with weapons like this. They are capable of shooting through an active aura. It would appear that this Professor Dementor of yours was trading such weapons to Salem. People armed with these weapons pose a significant threat to even elite hunters. We have no way of knowing how many he sent through, only that they are common on your world."

Ron knew that he wasn't guilty of this; in fact, he had worked to halt it. However, he felt somehow responsible since the weapons came from his world.

"There was something else," the general continued. "Three large, cylindrical objects that the handlers referred to as _wonder weapons_. They had this symbol on them."

Ron looked at the paper that the general laid on the table and his eyes flew wide. He could feel the blood drain from his face as he looked the older man in the eye.

"Oh my God!" He gasped, his voice trembling. "Did Dementor send _nukes_ through?"

* * *

 _A/N: As always, thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, my ever-patient beta-reader._


	12. Chapter 12

The smallest gestures can have the most profound consequences.

Weiss Schnee was fully aware that she sometimes seemed the stereotypical 'poor little rich girl', the disinherited heiress who may have to face life at a middle-class level of income. She knew that there were dozens, at the very least, of young women who would have followed her father's instructions without hesitation or complaint; willing to be the public face of the Schnee Dust Company in return for the fame and wealth that would have come with it.

The price was too high for Weiss.

It had been exhausting and nerve-wracking couple of weeks. Sneaking into her own home, effectively kidnapping and imprisoning her own mother, meeting with doctors and lawyers about the influence her father had on her mother, and the exact wording of the inheritance contracts. Finally, investigating Atlesian Law in regards to inheritance laws. Kline had been a godsend, keeping an eye on her mother and caring for her, well beyond what anyone could expect of a servant. Now, it was reaching an end. Tomorrow, it would all be over, for better or for worse.

Opening her apartment door, she threw her briefcase onto her table before collapsing onto the bed. It seemed to take all of her energy to look at her scroll and check the time. It was late afternoon. The knowledge that mealtime was fast approaching, and that she hadn't eaten since breakfast, triggered hunger that she hadn't realized was present. She stumbled to the kitchenette and rooted through the cupboards and refrigerator, quickly coming to the conclusion that she was in no mood for more canned soup and that she didn't have the energy to make something.

Not that she would have wanted to eat anything that she made.

She had a sharp mind for finance and marketing, a quick thought process when it came to supply and demand but when it came to cooking...her efforts could probably be weaponized. Sighing again, she sent a text message to Ron, feeling guilty for once again relying on the subject for help.

' _Just got in and I'm exhausted_ ,' she typed. ' _If you're up to cooking for two, I can do the dishes_.'

' _Cooking for two is no more work than for one_ ,' the reply came back. ' _Please bring the peanuts with you when you come over. Shall we say, ninety minutes?'_

 _'Ninety minutes is perfect,'_ she replied. ' _Thank you.'_

When Ron first started training at Atlas, he managed to damage his original scroll. The school provided him with a new one and since then, one of the very few requests he made of her was for an occasional bag of roasted peanuts. Since she had permission to go into town frequently, it was no hardship for her to pick them up...especially considering all the meals he made for her. Having no idea what he wanted them for, nor why he didn't simply request them through their hosts, she pulled the bag of legumes out of her briefcase before hauling herself to the bathroom.

When she had dedicated herself to this current course of action, the day she had delivered the off-worlder to this institution, she had no idea it could be so frustrating. The workout sessions with the other 'non-traditional' students were one of the few things that kept her sane, allowing her to work off her irritation by unleashing on someone else and having them unleash on her. Ron proved very capable of withstanding the beatings she could throw his way...as well as enduring her admittedly sarcastic wit when she was angry. He usually just shrugged off her comments but one time, she swore she overheard him saying something about being unable to get away from Bonnie even by going to a different universe.

Stripping her clothes, she started the shower while pulling her hair free of the tight bun she wore when meeting with the professionals. She arced her back while twisting her neck, making her spine pop. It seemed she always felt like she had an iron bar between her shoulders these days, and a permanent scowl on her face. Wondering how the business, legal and medical worlds could be so much more stressful than the huntress's world she sought to join, Weiss stepped under the hot, driving water.

She flinched a bit, adjusting to both the water's pressure and temperature. Feeling more comfortable, she allowed the stream to work first her shoulders, then down her spine, easing the tensions she was feeling. She stretched her aching muscles while under the warm shower, allowing more stress to flow away. Finally relaxed, or at least more relaxed than she had been, she saw to cleaning herself.

She took her time when she was done with the shower, patting most of the water from her hair before taking the blow dryer to it. She was tempted, as she had been many times, to cut a great deal of it off. As always, she changed her mind. She was a proud of her Schnee heritage and the silver hair was a family attribute. She would wear it long, visible and with pride.

Clean and relaxed, she wrapped a towel around herself and padded into the apartment's main room. She took a quick glance at her scroll, noting that she still had close to a half-hour before Ron would have dinner ready. She pulled on some clean undergarments before picking up her tiara. She stopped; it was getting late and she was only going across the hall, so she decided to leave her hair down for the evening. Continuing with that thought, she decided to forego a dress in favor of her nightgown and a robe. Noting that there was still close to fifteen minutes before Ron would be expecting her, she texted him again:

' _Care for a little early company?_ ' She sent the question through the ether.

' _Sure,_ ' his reply showed up, momentarily. ' _Just keep an open mind when you get here._ '

Not knowing if she should be curious or terrified by the implications of that last statement, she stepped into a pair of slippers and activated the proper petition to open her door. With it unlocked, she scooped the peanuts into one pocket, her scroll into another, and stepped out into the hall. Ron opened his door and the young man's eyes opened wide when he saw her. Still, he invited her inside.

"What?" She demanded of him, when the door closed behind her.

"I've never seen you with your hair free before," he pointed out. "It looks nice."

"Oh, thank you," for some reason, she felt a little heat flowing into her face. She diverted her gaze by pulling the peanuts from her pocket and handing them to him. Any flustered emotions quickly passed when she stepped further into the apartment and saw the table.

"Is that a rat on the table?" She demanded, her hands going to her hips.

"I said keep an open mind," he chided her, stepping around her and sitting opposite the rodent. "Have a seat, we'll be done in a minute."

Now that she was paying closer attention, she noted that his scroll was projecting a virtual checkerboard onto the table. When Ron sat down, he tapped one of the red holographic pieces, then two more squares. The scroll responded by showing the piece jumping two of the black pieces, which vanished. The checker piece, now on the row closest to the rat, changed into a 'kinged' piece.

After staring for a moment, the rat extended its tail and touched one of the black pieces, followed by a square. The black piece jumped a red, which vanished. Smiling, Ron used another of his to jump the rat's piece and another. Within three more moves, Ron had removed the last of the rat's pieces. The rodent sat back on its haunches, crossed its arms and pouted.

"You're getting better," the young man tried to console his opponent.

His answer was a series of grouchy squeaks.

"Look, we can play another game tomorrow. As you can see, I have a dinner guest, so what do I owe you?"

The rat squeaked several more times, to which Ron nodded and counted out a dozen peanuts, which he put in a small, cloth bag. He tied the bag with a drawstring and handed it to the rat. The rodent took the bag in its mouth and scampered down a section of rope to the floor. Once on the floor, the rat ambled at an unhurried pace to the wall. It pulled up a small section of a floorboard and hopped into the hole beneath, before pulling the wood back in place behind it. Weiss, who had not sat down when offered, spun on her host.

"Were you playing checkers against a rat?" She glared at him.

"Yeah, Pelz enjoys it."

"You gave him a name?" She was getting more confused.

"Her," he corrected his guest.

"Why teach her checkers?" She asked him.

"Because she cheats at pinochle," he informed her. "Now, why don't you take a seat and we'll have dinner?"

"I am not going to eat at this table," she informed him, her arms crossed. "Nor even sit at a table that a rat was on, until you scrub it down!"

Spurred on by her irritated frown, he quickly retrieved a bucket of soapy water and washed the table...several times. When Weiss was finally satisfied, she removed her robe and sat. Ron set the table and served dinner. Weiss didn't know what it was called, but it was baked, hot, beefy, cheesy, spicy and very good. She noted that her host seemed a little nervous as they ate.

"Ron, I'm sorry I complained about...Pelz...being on the table," she apologized, after the initial edge was off of her hunger. "But you have to admit, a rat on the table is more than a little odd."

"Well, never be normal," he declared, but she noted that his usual humor seemed a little strained. She took note, but decided to get him to open up a little later.

They finished dinner, then Ron produced a dessert that was sweet and fruity. Afterwards, Ron cleared the table and Weiss followed him into the kitchenette, intent on washing the dishes.

"You're in your pajamas," he told her. "Why don't I wash while you dry? If I spill a little water on me it won't be quite so...embarrassing." He blushed a little while saying this.

Weiss shrugged and went with the suggestion. She didn't see anything wrong with wearing her nightgown, but she supposed that he had a point. Soon, the dishes were clean, dry and put away. The two returned to the main room, where Weiss decided to find out what was bothering her friend.

"So," she made a bit of a show of stretching before taking a seat again. "We don't talk that much any more. What's been going on with you since you met with that scientist...what was her name?"

"Dr. Physiker," Ron told her, disappearing back into the kitchenette. He returned a moment later with two mugs and a tray with milk and sugar. "I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"Does not supposed to talk about it mean that you won't?" She asked him.

He grumbled a little bit, returning to the kitchenette. He returned with a pot of fresh coffee. She prepared her cup, with milk and sugar, giving him an inquisitive look.

"Okay," he shrugged. "There's a lot I don't understand, about stringy theories and all that. All I know is that two weeks ago, Physiker had me manipulate the Lotus Blade, which is still on Earth, while I was in some weird pod. According to her, she got sort of a general fix on my reality, but she needed to re-calibrate the pod to get a more specific fix. They haven't called me in since then."

"But they might have a way of getting you back home?" Weiss was excited, but she hated to admit that she felt a little bit of disappointment, as well.

"Maybe," Ron told her. "It could take months before they lock down their fix on my universe and even when they do, pinpointing my planet could take even more time. Those are just the problems that they're willing to tell me."

Suddenly, his eyes flew wide and he clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Ron..." she prompted him, with a stern look.

"I shouldn't have said the last bit," he admitted. "Please forget it."

"No." She snapped, setting down her cup. "Something's bothering you, what is it?"

For a few moments, he fidgeted, trying to make up his mind. Finally...

"They don't know if they can open a portal wide enough for me to get through," he told her. "Right now, they can only open portals the size of a pinhole. Dr. Physiker believes that she'll manage to open slightly larger portals...but doesn't know for sure if she'll ever be able to create one large enough for a person."

"Why not?" She wondered out loud. "That criminal on your planet...Dementor...he did it and he didn't have a kingdom's resources backing him."

Ron grumbled again.

"Okay, you're not supposed to know this," she rolled her eyes. "Just tell me the problem." She took a sip of her coffee, looking at him over the top of the cup.

He rolled his eyes towards the ceiling, grumbling something about not being able to keep his mouth shut around pretty girls, but explained. "On my planet, we use things called generators to create electrical power. On Remnant, you use dust. Dust is easier, doesn't pollute and is more efficient for small-scale electrical needs, like scrolls and even buildings. Generators, for all of their issues, can produce much more power. It's this kind of raw power that will be needed to open a portal large enough for a person."

"So, why not build one of these generators?" Weiss shrugged.

"Nobody knows how to build one big enough," Ron told her. "Or what fuel to use to give it the...what did she call it...the kinetic energy to operate. You don't have the fossil fuels here on Remnant like we do on Earth and nobody wants to build a hydroelectric dam just to send me home."

"Fossil fuels?" Weiss asked.

"Long story," Ron flinched. "I won't get into it tonight. It's just, well, what good will it be to tune into my world if I can't go back?" He shook his head. "Maybe they'll be able to open a portal large enough to fit the Kimmunicator through, so that I can at least let KP know that I'm alive and well."

"Ron, I'm so sorry," Weiss reached across the table and placed her hand on the top of his.

"It's not your fault," he fought back a bit of a sniffle. "It's just so...uncertain. While Dr. Physiker thinks she'll be able to tune in to my reality, she isn't positive she can. Once she tunes in to my reality, she thinks she can pinpoint my planet, but she isn't positive. While she thinks that she will eventually have the ability to open a portal large enough to pass through, she isn't positive and doesn't know how long it will take."

He got to his feet, gently pulling his hand from under hers and faced away from her.

"All of this time," he grumbled. "All of this time and nobody back home knows that I'm alive. I've been trying to send a message, but I don't know if anyone had noticed or will understand. How much longer before I can talk to anyone I know?"

Weiss didn't know how to respond. Her family had never been supportive in an emotional sense, so she didn't have any experience to draw upon to try to pick up his spirits. In fact the only time she had gotten an effective 'pick yourself up' speech was when Peter Port...

"Ron," she got to her feet, recalling the lecture the professor had delivered over a year ago. "Did you stop to think how fortunate you have been?"

"What?" He spun around, irritation on his face.

"Your hope all centers on this Lotus Blade, correct?" She tapped his chest to emphasize her point.

He nodded.

"Think about it!" She stressed. "You actually have a link to your own universe, a toehold to get back. If it were me on Earth, I wouldn't have that."

Ron suddenly looked more thoughtful than angry.

"You wound up falling to the ground from a safe height," she continued. "You landed in a forest with friendly people close at hand! You didn't wind up in a desert, you didn't wind up in the middle of the ocean. You didn't wind up in the enemy's stronghold. What are the chances that you'd land safe, and with friends?"

"Pretty low, Ron Factor low," he conceded. Some of the sorrow was now off of his face.

"And friends that were able to give you an opening to get to Atlas," Weiss continued. "The one kingdom that has physicists that could help you."

"You're right," he nodded. "I've been too busy feeling sorry for myself. I need to buck up and work with the blessings I've stumbled onto. Thank you."

"That's what friends do," she told him. "Help each other look at the bright side."

"No," he corrected her. "Thanks for helping me get to Atlas and sticking with me, helping me adjust."

He stepped forward and gave her a hug. She returned the embrace, conscious of the fact that she was wearing a nightgown and he was wearing sweat pants and an athletic shirt.

His body warmth felt very nice, his chest seemed to be made for her to rest her head against and his arms around her were very relaxing.

"It was my job," she murmured. "But you've been a big help to me, as well."

"So...friends," he declared, releasing the hug.

"Yes...friends," she released him as well and stepped back.

For a short time they stood there, feeling awkward.

"So, all that you heard about the portal sizes, energy requirements and tuning in," she said, returning to her chair. "You know, the things you said you weren't supposed to know about? How did you hear about them?"

"Uh..." his hand found its way to the back of his neck.

"You didn't just happen to overhear it all, did you?" She prodded a bit.

"Well, no..."

"Then how did you find out?" She asked again. "That lab is supposed to be secure."

"Well, I recorded it on a scroll," he admitted. He pulled the device from a pocket and called up a petition before handing it to her.

"Hey," she protested, upon taking the device. "This is the scroll that you said you broke!"

He looked away from her, not meeting her gaze while she activated the recording. While the video was poor, looking like it had been taken from a point above the subject and through a constricted space, the audio was easy to understand. It was an middle-aged woman discussing power requirements with a somewhat younger woman.

"Did you stash the scroll, set to record, in Dr. Physiker's office?" Weiss demanded.

"No," he told her. "I don't exactly know where her office is at. I've never been there."

"The scroll was above the ceiling," she surmised. "Maybe in an air vent. How did it get there if you didn't put it there, and then how did you get it back?"

"I...uh...hired someone to do this?" He offered.

"Who!?" She demanded. "While Atlas is paying you a few lien to make patrols with the other non-traditional students, you aren't making enough to bribe a cutting edge scientist or an engineer that would have access to the office! Anyone who you hired would have to be willing to work for...peanuts!?"

A sudden, horrible knowledge swept over her.

"Ron! Are you paying Pelz to record discussions and return the scroll to you?"

"I prefer to think that she does so out of friendship and concern," he sniffed. "But the peanuts don't exactly harm her motivation."

"So one of the most secure laboratories in Atlas is vulnerable to being infiltrated by a rat?" She didn't want to believe it.

"Not the lab," he pointed out. "The offices don't have the same level of isolation."

"But a mere rodent?" She glared at her friend.

"Weiss," now he was all seriousness. "There aren't many places on Earth that rodents couldn't get to. I really suspect that it's the same on Remnant."

She cocked her head to one side, absorbing this lesson. Suddenly, her eyes flew wide.

"Ron, you don't have any recording of me, do you?"

"No," he held up his hands. "I would never spy on a friend like that. I just think that I have a right to know about my fate."

She made a show of rubbing her chin, acting like she was contemplating what to do with the knowledge she had just gained. She had another favor to ask, and she wanted to bargain from a position of strength. She kept her eyes on him, watching him squirm until her instincts told her that he would be susceptible to a suggestion.

"I'm deciding whether or not I should tell the headmaster that you're spying on the physicist," she informed him. Not that she was actually planning on telling anybody. "So I think I could use a favor to help persuade me."

"What do you want?" He asked, very wary.

"I want you to have your little friend spy on General Ironwood," Weiss shot a predatory grin at her friend. "My sister, Winter, is somewhere on a mission for the Atlesian Military. I want to know where she's at and what she's up to."

"So you want me to have Pelz record General Ironwood's meetings?" Ron gave her a level look.

"Can you do it?" She asked. "I mean, can Pelz do it?"

Ron immediately looked sheepish again.

"She's already done it!" Weiss concluded. "You're already spying on the general!"

"That was before the physicist had me modify the Lotus Blade!" Ron protested. "Pelz recorded the general in case something interesting came up! After the physicist told me she was sort of on the trail to getting me home, I had Pelz record her, instead."

"Okay, you're going to be back to recording the general," Weiss told him. "My sister is somewhere, on an assignment for the military and I don't know where! I want to find out where she's at and if she's in any danger."

"Okay, fine," Ron threw up his arms. "I don't think the physicist is going to say anything interesting until after our next scanning session, anyway."

"A world-renowned physicist isn't going to say anything interesting?" She couldn't keep the smirk from her face.

"Well, not unless you're another physicist," Ron shrugged. "Anyway, Pelz knows the way into the general's office, but Ironwood doesn't always do his work in there. I'll have her set up the recording and we'll have to sift through it for things about...Winter...that's her name, isn't it?"

"Yes, and fair enough," she replied. She glanced at the scroll and noted that it was still only about 8:30 at night. While she should get a good night's sleep, she was so wound up that she knew she wouldn't be able to. Staring at the scroll screen for a couple of hours just didn't appeal to her, She'd rather just hang out with her friend, but it would be awkward without something to talk about.

"You were saying something about a modification to your weapon," she suddenly realized a topic they had discussed before. "How did that work out?"

"Oh, yeah!" He smacked his forehead. He opened his closet and retrieved his tonfa. "Whenever we were sparring, Flynt always knocked me for a loop with those sound waves. I wanted to see if I could mess them up a little."

He extended the weapons to Weiss, who got up to take them. Examining them, she noted that the long arms of the devices had been covered with with a flattened sleeve, making the cross-section oblong, rather than round. She ran her finger down the edges, noting that they weren't sharp.

"Okay, what's the benefit to the modification?" She asked him.

"Check this out," he smiled, retrieving his weapons. He stepped back, away from her. "Let's say Flynt blows his horn, setting up those sound waves. I do this."

He spun the tonfa. The oblong arms caught the air like a fan's blade, sending a stream of air her way.

"Still not understanding," she pointed out.

Ron's face broke into a wide grin and he twirled the implements with blinding speed. The stream of air became a powerful wind, knocking over small objects, blowing the blankets off of the bed; and propelling the hem of her nightgown rapidly upward.

With a shriek, she grabbed the offending garment high on her thighs and forced it back down. The wind plastered the thin cloth to her upper body, highlighting her every curve. She glared quickly back towards the young man, who seemed to have an expression of amazed discovery on his face.

"Ron!" She snapped at him.

He actually shook his head, forcing his brain back to what he was doing. With a shriek of his own, he averted his gaze and stopped the weapon, allowing things in the room to settle down.

"I'm so sorry!" He gasped, still looking away. "I didn't know it would..."

"It...it's okay," she stammered. "It wasn't you fault." Noticing that he was still looking away, she continued. "You can look at me again. I caught it before anything was really exposed."

To her amusement, he actually peeked first, before turning and facing her again. His face absolutely glowed red. Not wanting to hear another apology, she held out her hands and asked to see his weapons again.

"Well, did they disrupt his sound wave attack?" She asked him, twirling the weapons in her hands.

"Enough to weaken them," he told her, clearly glad to have something to talk about. "I was able to get in close and knock his trumpet away, just before Neon took my feet out from under me." He shrugged his shoulders again. "I can join them in staff form and make a larger wind. The trainer has me working with it to act as a landing strategy. I really can't demonstrate this in here."

Weiss nodded. It had been a couple of days since she had made it to the workouts, as she was so busy with the legal work she was doing now. She was looking forward to seeing what her friend had come up with and how much he had improved.

"You know," she said, giving one of the tonfa a closer look. "You could add pistols, or maybe even machine pistols, to these. The short arm could act as the barrel and part of the long arm as a magazine. The trigger mechanism would be in the handle."

"I really don't like guns," he told her, his voice quiet. "With the tonfa and the staff, I have a good chance of just beating an opponent. Guns..."

"Ron," she handed the weapons back to him, dialing up her logical voice. "That's a kindly attitude, but it could get you killed. Look at your matches against Flynt; he can just hang back and use his sound attacks on you."

"I can disrupt them now," Ron pointed out.

"To a certain extent," she countered. "But he can still wear you down while you close the gap. You need a distance weapon to counter the other guy's distance weapon."

"I still don't like guns," Ron shook his head.

"Just think about it," Weiss decided to not press the issue at the moment. "And remember, just because you have it, doesn't mean you have to use it."

Ron nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face, and put the weapons back in the closet. The two quickly straightened out the damage Ron's demonstration had inflicted on his apartment before returning to the table and their coffee. Weiss flinched and worked her shoulder a little when she sat down.

"Sore?" Ron asked.

"Yes," she admitted. "I didn't believe how much staring at documents all day, while answering hard questions can be." She grimaced a little.

"Well, I was hoping to become a physical therapist," Ron told her. "And I spent some time working with a masseuse, after graduating high school. I'm not a professional, but I can try to loosen up your neck muscles."

"Please," she told him.

He walked behind her and gently probed her neck with his fingertips; caressing and kneading to find the tension. Upon finding the stiffest muscles, he kneaded deeper and more forcefully, working the entire length of tense muscles and tendons. She flinched at first, but then her muscles began to relax. She closed her eyes when he started working her shoulders.

He lifted her right arm, parallel with the ground but hummed in frustration. "Why don't you lie face down on the bed?" He asked. "It will let me work a couple of tendons out a little better."

She complied and was soon happy that she had. He worked both of her arms from shoulder to fingertips, relaxing her muscles as he went. Then, he started at the base of her neck and worked down her spine.

She was asleep before he finished.

For a few minutes, Ron looked at his friend and the pleasant smile on her sleeping face. She looked so angelic when completely relaxed like this that he couldn't bring himself to wake her. Instead, he opened his closet and removed his sleeping bag. He unzipped it, forming a blanket, which he covered her with. Satisfied, he turned off the lights and sat on the floor, leaned against the wall, and covered himself with a jacket. Soon he to, was asleep.

Weiss woke well before her scroll's alarm sounded. For a few moments she was disoriented, then she remembered the meal and the back massage. In the dim light provided by the scroll and other appliances, she spotted her host, sleeping against a wall. At first she was horrified, having forced the young man out of his own bed, then she thought about the very touching gesture this entailed; tucking her in to sleep, and she smiled again.

She stretched; feeling loose, limber and refreshed. She was ready to face the day! Confidence bubbled up inside her, preparing her to rise to the challenge. Today would be the culmination of weeks of exhausting preparation; she would prove triumphant and take the first steps towards reclaiming her families honor! Lifting herself from the bed, she turned her head to look the opposite direction and came nose-to-nose with Pelz.

Her shriek came close to shattering the walls.

* * *

Two hours later, Weiss was in her old room, with her legal team and a middle-aged lady.

"Mother, are you up to this?" She asked the current matron of the Schnee dynasty. Her mother looked pale, even for a Schnee, and seemed frail beyond her years.

"I will have to be," Einsam told her youngest daughter. "I am a Schnee, just like you, even if I am not a fighter."

"We will assist you in any way that we can," Mr. Anwalt, their lead attorney, chimed in. "But in the end, the decisions are yours to make."

"I've been putting off those decisions for too long," Einsam trembled slightly. "I don't think I'm up to running the company."

"You'll have help," Weiss assured her mother. "We've spent weeks combing the company for the best people to assist you. They are waiting just outside of the manor and will come in when we summon them." She took her mother's hand, something that she hadn't done in far too long. "You're not alone, mother."

The elder Schnee gave her daughter's hand a weak squeeze.

"Perhaps a cup of coffee while we wait?" Anwalt suggested. "We're going to want our wits about us in there."

"I'm wide awake, trust me," Weiss assured the man. She didn't know if she should still be angry with Ron for the circumstances she woke up to, or if she should be amused, picturing again the shocked look on his face when her blood-curdling scream woke him.

"I'd rather have something else," Einsam murmured.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Anwalt countered her.

"I know," the older woman lowered her gaze.

Weiss maintained a gentle hold on her mother's hand, trying to reassure her that everything would work out for the best. Finally, a discrete knock on the door preceded Kline opening it and sticking his head inside.

"The board of directors has assembled, ma'am," he informed the matron.

"Thank you, Kline," Einsam stood, with a little help from her daughter. "Please lead the way."

Kline offered a slight bow and held the door for the Schnee women. As soon as they were in the hall, he walked towards the meeting room, slowing his pace slightly to avoid outdistancing the small party following him. Once at the door, he paused, looking back. Weiss looked to both her mother and to her lead attorney, receiving nods from both. Nodding back, the efficient servant opened the door.

"...so we continue..." Jacques Schnee's voice sounded through the doorway for a few moments. "Kline, what is the meaning of this?"

"An additional member of the board requested to attend, sir," Kline informed Jacques.

"The board is already here," Weiss could hear the sneer on her father's face. Rather than intimidated her, like it had in the past, it put iron in her spine.

"You're forgetting me, Jacques," Einsam declared, walking into the room with her daughter's support. "I am the owner of the Schnee dust company. You are the director, at my indulgence."

"Of course you are welcome to attend," Jacques' voice went quickly from arrogant to polite, belying the harsh glare he directed at his youngest daughter. "But you've always found the meetings to be tedious."

"And you were always willing to shelter me from such issues," she returned his glare. "Freeing me to spend my days in the garden while you ran things as you saw fit. I had wine, music, books and other entertainment to keep me preoccupied while you drove my family legacy into the ground!"

'Into the ground?" The shock on Jacques Schnee's face and in his voice was genuine. "I took a profitable company and made it more so! The Scnee Dust Company is stronger than ever!"

"And more despised than ever," Einsam countered him. "Is the money worth the hate the rest of the world has for us? Is the prestige worth knowing that nobody trusts you?"

"Dear, this company has a solid reputation!" He protested.

"Among the powerful and wealthy," she pointed out. "What about the workers who's labor makes the money for us? What about the customers who's money we take? Is that why you disinherited Winter? Because she chose to follow a path of honor that you didn't agree with? Is that why you disinherited Weiss?"

"Well, I can take care of our youngest daughter right now," Jacques' cheerful tone told Weiss that he was up to something. "Kline, summon the police and inform them that Weiss Schnee, the runaway, has been found." The turned his gaze back to his wife and daughter, "If Weiss finds the life of a Schnee to not be to her liking, she can try the accommodations in the juvenile detention center."

"You're wasting Kline's time, father," Weiss informed him. "I've turned eighteen, so I can't be a runaway, can I?"

"Then you are a trespasser," his voice was still calm.

"Not if she's invited," Einsam informed her husband. "And as the rightful owner of both the Schnee Dust Company and the Schnee Mansion, I have invited her. She has every right to be here, unlike you."

"I'm not invited!?" Jacques Schnee stood, glaring at his wife and daughter. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I will not sit idly by and watch you continue as you have," Einsam's voice was quiet, but determined. "My attorneys have all of the proper forms and have done all of the research. As of now, you are no longer the CEO and director of the Schnee Dust Company!"

"Why now!?" He demanded. "Oh, now I see! You've been talking to our youngest daughter! Has she been filling your head with her lies and her childish illusions? Does she still believe that companies stay strong through good feelings and blind hope?"

Jacques walked slowly around the conference table, as board members scooted their chairs to get out of his way. " Did she convince you that an alcoholic, middle-aged woman who hasn't so much as balanced her own budget in over ten years could take up the duties of running a multi-billion lien corporation? Did she convince you that the only path of honor is to take up a blade and hack someone or something apart? Is that how she handles disagreements?"

Now, the man was standing in front of the two women, glowering down upon them. "Do you think that it's Weiss's rapier and Winter's saber that pay the bills? Is it their ability to stab and hack that provides jobs for the underclasses? Is it their predisposition towards violence that provides the tax revenues that fund this very kingdom? NO! It's the hard decisions and monotonous work that you seem to find beneath you that keep this kingdom running!"

"I have no doubt that you make hard decisions," Einsam was quivering just a little, but she stood her ground. "And those hard decisions always seem to work out so that we make still more money while our workers live shorter, poorer and more painful lives. Weiss finally opened my eyes to what's been happening!"

"Feeding you lies!" Jacques roared. "I can deal with that!"

Jacques Schnee pulled back his hand, ready to deliver a chastising backhand to his younger daughter. With a flick of her wrist, Weiss pulled her business jacket aside and pulled Myrtenaster from its sheath. Jacques Schnee suddenly found himself facing the rapier's tip.

"Would you draw a weapon on your own father?" He demanded with a roar. Board members gasped and shouted in alarm.

"As easily as you would strike your own daughter," Weiss replied in her coldest voice.

"I have every right to punish my daughter," he snarled, but he eased back a step.

"I am not a scared little girl anymore," Weiss reminded him. "I'm eighteen and thus a young woman. A scared young woman with a rapier and the ability to use it."

For over a minute, father and daughter glared at each other. Finally, Jacques backed off.

"So this is the thanks I get," he growled, storming towards the door. "Thirty years of faithful service to the company and to the family, only to be thrown aside at the whim of a teenager."

"Kline," Einsam called to her servant. "Please have one of the guards accompany my husband. He continues to have full access to this household, other than the board room. Have the guard see to it that he does no damage to any of the heirlooms."

"As you wish, madame," the ever-efficient man bowed slightly before exiting.

"Jacques was right about some things," Einsam addressed the assembled board members, while walking to her husband's usual place at the head of the table. "I do not have the education or the patience for this job. I'm also an alcoholic, so expecting me to be even adequate at this job would be foolish."

"I'm sorry, Weiss," she looked at her daughter, then at one of the attorneys, who pulled a document from his briefcase. "I have no choice but to appoint Weiss Schnee as the interim CEO and director of the Schnee Dust Company, until such time that we can find someone who I trust to run this company."

For several, endless seconds, Weiss stared, open mouthed, at her mother.

"I'm only eighteen," she protested. "I've spent the last five years training as a huntress, not a business manager."

"You have knowledgeable people in this room," her mother told her. "As well as very honorable people outside, waiting to work with you. I'm sorry, but I haven't recovered enough to run this company and too many people depend on us to let it fail." She looked over the board members in general. "Treat my daughter honestly and with respect," she instructed them. "I just fired my own husband. Don't think I'll hesitate to do the same to any of you." With that, she embraced her daughter.

"Go take your seat, dear," she instructed the younger woman. "It's going to be a very long day for you."

"What are you going to do?" Weiss asked, in a quiet voice.

"I'm going to go to the garden and rest," she answered. Upon seeing her daughter's shocked and hurt look, she added, "I will enjoy some lemonade. I have already gone through two and a half weeks of withdrawal symptoms, so it would be a shame to waste them."

With that, the elder Schnee woman ambled out of the room.

"Very well," Weiss took charge of the situation and strode purposefully to the head of the table. "I must apologize to the board for subjecting you to this drama. We will now take a twenty minute recess. When we reconvene, I will have experts of my own, as well as my attorneys, here to advise me. I will hear your reports and afterwards, I will detail some changes in our business practices."

She let her gaze fall on each board member in turn. "Ladies and gentlemen, our world faces trying times and the Schnee Dust Company will bend all of its influence to assuring not only its own profitability, but the survival of the human race."

* * *

"You said that you had some important news for me, doctor." General Ironwood didn't often fix people with his unpleasant stare. Much as profanity, he learned that if he saved this glare for special occasions, it would have a more profound impact. As a result, he could make people jump more with a simple raised eyebrow or a slightly off-color comment than others could with vein-bulging tantrums and language that would make a guttersnipe blush.

He was very close to raising an eyebrow at this time.

"I understand you're busy," Dr. Physiker told his guest. "But we have completed our initial analysis on the ammunition you provided us with. I thought you would want to know the results."

"Indeed," General Ironwood's eyebrow remained at its normal orientation.

"Very well, we have performed an initial analysis on the propellant, and all of the elements it contains are readily available here on Remnant." The physicist informed him.

General Ironwood nodded.

"However, we are unable to recreate the substance."

General Ironwood's eyebrow rose.

"We simply cannot make the elements bond properly," the scientist met the general's displeasure with her own hard stare. This was a matter of science, her area of expertise. After a few moments, the general's face returned to its normal expression.

"I suspect that you wish to report more than your inability to match the ammunition our enemy has," Ironwood said.

"Indeed, there are several factors that I felt relevant to inform you...after discussing them with the military engineer you assigned to my staff," the doctor told him. "You did say that you preferred to not trust such communications to electronic means."

"That I did," he admitted. General Ironwood gestured to a chair on the other side of his desk, taking his own seat once his guest was more relaxed. "I fear that the transmission channels are too easily compromised."

"Here's the full report," Dr. Physiker slid a recording disk across the desk to the general. "However, I'd like to summarize the most relevant issues." At the general's nod, she continued, "first, the capability of the...assault rifles...and the ammunition. The bullets are not only launched with very high velocity, they are very accurate. While our projected energy weapons are more accurate, the military engineer was able to consistently hit targets from three hundred meters with the contraband weapon."

"That's better than the best dust rounds," General Ironwood noted, allowing a little of the concern he felt to creep into his tone.

"The good news is that they rely strictly on kinetic energy to do their damage. The bullets are mostly lead, which according to Mr. Stoppable is very common on Earth. As lead is relatively soft, it both engages rotational grooves inside the barrel and distorts upon impact, inflicting more serious wounds. However, these bullets do not impart an electrical shock, flame, gravity displacement, or the other effects we can generate with dust."

"The bad news is that most hunters' standard tactics for dealing with an opponent armed with these weapons won't be effective," she continued. "Attempting to deflect these rounds will be difficult to the point of being foolhardy, perhaps even suicidal. While evasive running will have some effect on the marksman's aim, the bullets move so fast that even top hunters will find dodging a bullet already aimed at him to be very difficult."

"Any conclusions?" General Ironwood prompted.

"I'd prefer to let you read the tactics your adviser came up with," she offered a self-depreciating smile. "I am a scientist, not a soldier so I'd probably just confuse them. On the other hand, we've done some theoretical computations based on these other weapons...these nukes." Her smile quickly faded.

"From your expression, I assume that this news is worse," Ironwood noted.

"I don't think that I can adequately describe my fear," she admitted. "You've already heard Ron's stories, claims that primitive versions of these weapons killed tens of thousands in a blink of an eyes. We thought...hoped...that he was simply repeating propaganda from over seventy years previous. I believe that destructive output like he described is...theoretically possible. Add in the fact that his world has been involved in an arms race since then and such weapons now could be considerably worse."

"How much worse?"

"Bear in mind that this is strictly guesswork but...complete destruction within ten kilometers, catastrophic damage for another ten kilometers beyond that. Serious damage for another twenty. I can only guess." She shook her head. "There is also the issues of fallout and radiation that could be a concern, but Ron couldn't adequately explain. He's not a doctor, a scientist or a soldier but it's clear that each of these weapons could obliterate a city in a heartbeat."

"Doctor, I am going to provide you with a piece of highly classified information," Ironwood told his guest. "I know that there are three such weapons on the face of Remnant. Agents have been tracking two, while the third is missing. As a scientist, what is your suggestion?"

"Seize and disassemble them immediately!" She insisted. "Even at the cost of your agents' lives! Between Ron's limited knowledge and my very limited theory, this nuclear reaction is not easily achieved. At the heart of each weapon, there should be a sphere of explosives surrounding a sphere of dense metal. Separate the explosives from the metal and get the metal here, where we can store it safely!"

"Are we sure such a weapon will function in our reality?"

"Dare we take the chance?" Physiker demanded. "This ammunition from the other world works just fine in our reality, despite the fact that we cannot create it here. General, Vale has been seriously weakened. Mistral and Atlas stand strong while Vacuo remains untouched but disorganized. One such weapon in each kingdom and humanity has been horrifically weakened...perhaps fatally so."

"Very well," he nodded. "I will pass the word to my agents to do as you have requested. Anything else?"

"Just details and military matters," she shrugged. "You can read them at your leisure."

"Thank you doctor, please let me know if you come up with anything else," The general rose to his feet, followed by his guest. Once he saw the doctor off, General Ironwood returned to his desk.

Flinching, he pulled a caffeine pill from a desk drawer and washed it down with a cup of lukewarm coffee. A few minutes later, feeling more alert, he activated the proper petition on his desktop scroll. Rather than typing in the message, he used voice recognition software to dictate his message. Once finished, he activated the second phase of the petition, sending the message. Now, he would have to wait for Captain Schnee to acknowledge his orders and advise him on her progress.

Finished, he got up and left his office. It was time to review the latest training programs for the newest class of hunters at the academy. After that, he would have to work with his staff to devise proper counters for the new weapons that his enemy may or may not be able to wield effectively. Then, he would have to attend the council meeting. To finish his to-do list, he would have to meet with engineers to discuss a possible work around for the defunct CCT system. So much for sleep any time soon.

The coffee and caffeine pills were keeping him going but they were making him paranoid. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched whenever he was at his desk.

* * *

Qrow Branwen stepped out of Taiyang's home, a hard look on his face. He read the letter in his hand once again.

 _Uncle Qrow, I hate to leave like this, but it's clear that I'm not going to accomplish anything by teaching kids at Signal. Something's happening in Mistral. I don't know what is going to happen, but I won't wait here, safe, while my sister and friends face whatever it is. By the time you read this, it will be too late to track me down, so please don't try. Please look after Zwei and hold the fort here, in case Dad or Ruby find some way of sending word back. I love you old man, but I can't stay on the sidelines any longer._

 _Yang._

Taking a deep breath, Qrow realized that his niece was right; it wouldn't do any good to try to find her. There were too many ships and land routes that she could use for him to have any chance of intercepting her. While his strength had come back for the most part, his endurance hadn't. As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't up for the road, must less a battle. He'd only be in the way.

"I'm sorry Tai," he murmured to his brother in law, wherever he was at. "All those times I went off on the adventures, leaving you here to maintain the safe haven. I never realized how much it sucks to be the responsible one."

* * *

 _A/N: The concept of Ron seeking to become a physical therapist...and not a cook...is used with the generous permission of Jimmy1201 from his tale, '_ _ _Graduation in Early Mayhem__ _'. It's a good tale, so please check in out._

 _Thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, for his continued beta assistance._


	13. Chapter 13

Smoke meant trouble. Taiyang Xiao Long had learned that a long time ago. He had also learned that it was his duty to run towards trouble rather than avoiding it. Still, running wouldn't do, not with the smoke so far away. Instead, he picked up his pace to an easy lope, a pace that he could maintain for hours. The grasslands passed by him, showing no sign of human settlement other than the road that he was upon. Here, between the towns and outside the Kingdom of Mistral, nature quickly reclaimed what little mark mankind left on Remnant. Three hours after picking up his pace, he crested a low hill and came upon the refugees.

They were a frightened, bedraggled looking bunch. He immediately knew what they had been through. Holding his hands up, palms out and away from his body, he slowly approached the group. The people, perhaps fifty, took up makeshift weapons and confronted him.

"Peace," he called out. "I am alone and mean you no harm. What happened to you?"

Taiyang was pretty sure he already knew, but asking tended to put people a little more at ease.

The refugees looked at each other for a few minutes. Finally, a burly man, carrying a hammer that looked more at place at a forge than a battlefield, stepped forward.

"Raiders attacked our village," he blurted out. "They took whatever they wanted and killed anyone who fought. Those of us who could...we got out. They were still there but we knew the grimm..."

"You knew the grimm would come," Taiyang finished for him. "And you knew that fighting was no good. You did the brave thing, taking the logical course. It would have been easier to stay and die; it takes courage to run and live."

The man didn't look convinced, but nodded.

"There's another town about a day and a half behind me," Taiyang told the man, then realized that the blacksmith was certainly more familiar with this part of the countryside than he was. "I haven't run into any grimm or raiders since leaving it. If you take my suggestion, you'll keep going. Walk through the night if you have to. You want to be well clear of here."

"Where are you going?" The big man asked him.

"I have business in Mistral," Taiyang answered. "So I have to keep going."

"But that will take you to the bandits!" He protested.

"Then they and I will have a little discussion about the proper behavior around peaceful townsfolk," Taiyang shrugged.

"But, you're only one man, and you're unarmed!" The blacksmith protested again.

"Goodman," Taiyang offered the man a wide smile. "You've never been to a combat or a hunters' academy, so I can understand the confusion. Even capable hunters seem to forget the first rule. I'd like to escort you to safety, but I think I'll do you more good by going to face what is behind you."

"Perhaps you're right," the blacksmith offered a short nod. "Fair travels, huntsman."

"And better days to you, goodman," Taiyang offered in return. With that, the huntsman settled back into his long striding lope, leaving the blacksmith and the rest of the townsfolk behind him. Time was of the essence, otherwise he would have escorted them to safety. Idly, he fished another earth crystal out of his pack and ground it onto his arms as he traveled.

Another hour found its way into his past, occupied with his kilometer-eating pace. The smoke was getting more defined now; he could she that it came from several sources rather than one large fire. He shook his head; why did the bandits always burn the towns? They didn't gain anything from doing so, it only made it take longer for people to resettle. In a way, the bandits were damaging their own livelihood by doing so. Of course, he never understood the allure of the bandits' life, so perhaps it made sense, is some sick, twisted way.

Now he could see the individual buildings that were burning. Now he could see the layout of the village in the smokey haze and the still shapes lying in the streets. Now he could see other shapes, moving through the streets, laden with various bundles and trinkets. The shapes interacted with each other, clearly laughing and reveling in the situation. Tucking the eroded earth crystal back in his pack, Taiyang altered his course.

Towards the bandit raiders.

He picked up his pace as he approached. As he closed, he could see three rough man and a woman were leaving the town, heavy packs on their backs. He knew the sort, they were the bold ones, who dared stay the latest, searching for hidden valuables and risking running afoul of the grimm when they showed. Taiyang didn't consider himself a hater, but bandit raiders came very close to provoking that emotion from him. His boots slapped on the cobblestones as he entered the village proper, warning the raiders of his approach. For a moment, the four just stared at him. He knew the emotion, they were fierce raiders, why would anyone do anything but flee from them? Then there were chuckles, mirth as they contemplated this prey that had served itself up to them. Then one stepped forward, swinging an ax.

The swing had some skill behind it, but not nearly enough. Taiyang sprang forward and caught the handle just below the head and spun, yanking the weapon out of the attacker's hands. He continued his spin, landing an elbow on the man's jaw. This particular raider had an active aura, a burst of orange light flared around him as he went sprawling backwards. Taiyang didn't stop. The woman was now closest to him so he landed a quick snap-kick to her belly. She dropped her sword and bent around the pain in her abdomen. Taiyang grabbed her head with both hands and drove his knee into her face.

With a growl, a third bandit rushed him, two push-daggers extended. Taiyang leaped into the air, over the dagger thrusts, only to see the fourth aim a pistol at him and fire. The teacher angled both of his hands in front of him, allowing the dust rounds to deflect off of his dust-saturated flesh with a shower of sparks. Lashing out with a foot he caught the man with the daggers squarely in the chin. The man's head was force upwards an an unnatural angle accompanied by a sickening crack. The dagger-wielder flopped motionless on the ground while the gunman squeezed off another round.

This was an ice dust round, as instead of bouncing off of Taiyang's hand, it encased the extremity in ice. Not breaking stride, the blonde man seized the offending weapon with his left hand, forcing it to the sky, while he smashed his ice-encased right onto the man's knee. Both ice and joint shattered. Taiyang tore the pistol out of the man's grasp and faced the ax-man.

His original target was clearly no fool. Seeing that he was outclassed, he tried to tackle the superior fighter. Taiyang performed a deep squat, allowing the man's arms to pass over his head, then sprang upwards with an uppercut. His stony fist caught the man square in the groin, sending him tumbling overhead. Spinning quickly, Taiyang executed a foot-stomp on the woman's ankle, breaking the joint. Not pausing, he rushed the ax-man again. Ignoring his feeble struggles, he delivered a knife-hand strike to the bandit's thigh, nodding in satisfaction when he felt something give way inside the limb.

Taiyang found the discarded ax and returned it to the owner, then returned the sword to the woman. He decided to not give the pistol its owner, but gave that man the two push-daggers, instead. He heard the faint sound of hoof beats and saw a man on a horse, perhaps a kilometer in the distance, galloping away.

"What are you?" The man who originally had the pistol demanded of him.

"Just a teacher," Taiyang told him. His sharp ears picked up the distant sounds of grimm roars.

"You're a huntsman!" The woman gasped. "You can't just leave us here! You're type exist to protect people."

"We exist to protect the innocent," Taiyang corrected her. "And those who prey on their fellow man are not innocent."

"Hey, we don't deserve to be torn up by the grimm!" The ax-man pleaded with him. Taiyang could now see dark shapes converging from the distance.

"And the townsfolk didn't deserve to be killed by raiders," Taiyang countered. "But, I'm giving you a fighting chance. I've left your weapons with you."

"You crippled us!" The gunman screamed at him. "We won't have a chance!"

"Maybe not," Taiyang shrugged. "Your scout galloped away. Of course, I don't think he'd be likely to come back and discuss which of you gets his horse. You might hope that the rest of your tribe comes to your rescue, but don't you live by the rule that the strong take what they want and the weak fall? Four of you, falling to a single man isn't going to impress your leader, is it?"

"But why did you get involved?" The woman demanded. "You could have slipped by us and we would have never seen you!"

"Oh, but you're fulfilling an important purpose," Taiyang assured her. "The way it is, the three of you have a slim chance of surviving the next couple of hours." The teacher could now make out several creeps rushing towards him. "But you have an excellent chance of keeping the grimm busy long enough for the surviving townsfolk to get clear of the area. It's up to you, but you understand I have places I have to be. Good luck."

Ignoring the pleas, curses and comments about his ancestry, Taiyang settled into his kilometer-eating lope again. Behind him, he heard the roars of attacking grimm, the howls of grimm in pain and shrieks of both pain and panic. He sighed; he didn't like leaving anyone to such a fate but when the choice came between bandits and townsfolk...it wasn't much of a decision.

He jogged through the rest the evening. As the sun found its way to the western horizon, the road crossed a tree-lined creek. Taiyang turned off of the trail and jogged just under a kilometer upstream to find a large tree that suited his purpose. After taking in a meal of cold rations, he climbed the tree. Now ten meters above the ground, he used a length of cloth to strap himself into his perch before bundling his cloak around him against the chill. While he awoke a couple of times during the night, hearing movement below, nothing bothered him in his elevated nest. When the sky started to brighten, he scrambled back to the ground, took a quick meal of cold rations and creek water, and was off again.

Taiyang decided that following the road wouldn't be a great idea, as the bandit scout he had spotted yesterday had undoubtedly reported his presence by now. Instead, he put his right shoulder to the rising sun and started to jog again.

He passed through rolling prairie, broken by occasional thickets and tree-lined streams and creeks. He made an effort to keep a careful watch and stay close to cover, but he knew that if bandits were about and were looking for him, they would probably spot him before he spotted them. His goal was to pass through any tribe's territory before it could muster the numbers needed to deal with him. If he encountered a scout or two...

He fished his eroded earth crystal out of his pack and ground it into his hands and arms as he continued to jog.

He encountered yet another creek when the sun was fairly close to being directly overhead, so he decided to take a break. Jumping into the flowing water, he waded a kilometer downstream. Once there, he climbed another tree and observed his surroundings, paying particular attention to his back trail. While he rested, he pulled off his shoes and applied the crystal to his feet and legs. He allowed himself an hour of rest, keeping his eyes and ears open. Finally, he waded another kilometer downstream before continuing to the north.

The foliage started to close in as he continued. The thickets grew larger and more numerous, the stands of woodland expanded farther from the meandering creeks. Despite the thickening cover, he continued to make good time until early evening, when a flash of light to his left caught his attention. Diving into deeper cover, he crawled several meters before risking a look towards the source of the light.

A couple of kilometers away, he saw a man on horseback on a ridgeline. Taiyang allowed himself a slight, condescending smile; a lesson that hunters learned after leaving the academies was to not keep their weapons so shiny that they could reflect sunlight to that degree. The horseman had a halberd, whose head was polished to perfection...bright enough to warn people that he was approaching. Moving slowly, Taiyang wormed his way deeper into cover. From deep in the brush, he observed the approaching horseman.

It could be difficult to tell bandits from townsfolk at times; townsfolk often had armed people patrolling the countryside around their communities while bandits, especially scouts, seldom wore any sort of identifying marker. However, this horseman was wearing a grimm mask. While Taiyang had firm control over his emotions, he came close to being irritated.

Of all the bandit tribes he could encounter, why did it have to be this one?

Taiyang didn't know if the bandit was approaching his hiding place because he had been spotted or if the man had another reason for being here. Perhaps the scout that left the town, yesterday, had reported the man who had overwhelmed the late staying looting party. Was this man here to catch him as he continued? The teacher didn't have an answer, so he concentrated on remaining motionless and as silent as an open grave.

The approaching bandit was no fool. He found a small, clear space by a creek to hobble his horse, then climbed a tree, giving him a good view of the surrounding area. After this, he manipulated a control on the side of his halberd and it altered shape into a bolt-action rifle. Thus armed, the man produced a set of binoculars and swept the surrounding area...

While failing to pay close attention to what was almost under his feet.

" _The horse is the key,"_ Taiyang told himself. _"A man can stay in place for hours at a time, but the horse will need attention, eventually."_

Sure enough, after a couple of hours, the bandit swept the area with his binoculars, carefully, before clamoring down the tree. Once on the ground, he removed the saddle from the horse and started to brush the animal down. Taiyang approached carefully, trying to time his motions with gusts of wind and the movements of both man and beast. It was a vain hope to believe that he could actually grab the man by surprise, but he could at least get close...

Even an experienced huntsman can have bad moments. While the bandit didn't detect the sneaking hunter, the horse caught his scent and whinnied at him. The bandit wasn't an idiot; rather than wondering what his horse had spotted, he snatched up his weapon to face whatever, or whoever, it was, armed. Taiyang didn't hesitate either; as soon as the horse narced him out, he rushed to close the gap. To his surprise, the bandit used the weapon in the halberd form, not in the gun form. Of course, that quickly became something of a mixed blessing.

The bandit had skill; he twirled the weapon in front of him, both forming a barrier and building up speed. He kicked the weapon's head while it was low, sending it towards his opponent in an upward arcing cut. Taiyang sidestepped the oncoming blade and was nearly caught by the return cut when the bandit pulled weapon back. The teacher actually smiled, knowing that he wasn't facing some kid who had just picked up his weapon.

The bandit thrust the weapon at him again. Taiyang dodged then grabbed the haft. When the bandit tried to recover, Taiyang sprinted forward, using his opponent's effort to speed him. The bandit's eyes flew wide, but he couldn't move fast enough to avoid taking an elbow in his jaw. Taiyang then just plowed into the man, grappling him and arcing a foot behind the man to trip. They went to the ground with Taiyang on top. The huntsman quickly secured a carotid artery choke on the man. The bandit struggled for several seconds before passing out.

With his opponent incapacitated, at least momentarily, Taiyang worked quickly. He pulled the man away from the panicking horse, yanked off his shirt and used it to tie the man's hands behind a handy tree. The bandit would work free from that fairly quickly, but that would be enough time. With his captive secure, Taiyang went through his belongings, taking possession of the food. He then released the horse, chased it away, then used the halberd's blade to cut up the bridle and the saddle's straps. If the bandit got free and managed to reclaim his horse, he would have to ride bareback. By this time, the bandit was awake again.

Taiyang watched the man from the corner of his eye while examining his weapon. He managed to convert it into rifle mode, but frowned when he only found three rounds in the magazine. Curious, the teacher pocketed the rounds before re-examining the saddlebags and pouches, finding no additional ammunition. The then checked the barrel and found the weapon very clean; it hadn't been fired since the last time it had been cleaned.

Who sent a scout out with only three rounds?

The bandit glared at the teacher as Taiyang approached him.

"So, were you on routine patrol, or were you looking for me?" Taiyang asked him. The bandit simply scowled in return.

Shrugging his shoulders, Taiyang turned away. He had no stomach to torture the man and he wouldn't trust any answers he received under such persuasion anyway. Instead, he settled into his long-distance pace and left the bandit behind. After running a little over a kilometer, he dropped the weapon. He continued on his course until he was out of site of the bandit, then turned perpendicular and continued to run. When the bandit escaped and rejoined the tribe, let the tribe search the wrong direction.

Now that someone was probably searching for him, Taiyang decided to push on through the night. He spent the first four hours traveling east, putting distance between himself and his original path. After that, he turned north again. Dawn found him descending the last of the highlands to the flat forests south of the inland lake's swampy shore. Noon found him in the midst of the forest and not alone.

There were bandits hunting him, but they found their quarry to be dangerous indeed. At first, when he heard people crashing through the woods, he attempted to evade them and found himself nearly lassoed by woman who was lying in wait. Beaters were driving their quarry to the hunters, and all were wearing grimm masks. His lesson learned, he left an incapacitated bandit, trussed with her own rope, behind him and changed his tactics. This time, when he heard someone approaching him, he stalked and attacked the beater before rushing a kilometer to the west. After that, he turned north again.

The entire morning had been spent in a game of cat and mouse. Of course it wasn't really cats hunting a mouse; maybe it was more like a pack of wolves hunting a really big and angry moose. If the bandits all ganged up on him at once, he'd be in trouble. On the other hand, if they banded together at the same place, he had a good chance of evading them. He fought a total of four sharp engagements. Each time, he left battered, incapacitated bandits behind him and ran in a random direction, before turning north again. With the sun high in the sky, another bandit appeared before him. He easily recognized her even though she wore a mask.

Despite years of trying to forget her.

She removed her mask, revealing a face so much like Yang's. Raven didn't bother drawing her weapon, which made Taiyang wonder if there was some hope of getting out of this without violence. His former lover's face was unreadable as she appraised him calmly. He simply set himself and waited for the next move. He heard people approaching, but Raven held up a hand, making them keep their distance.

"It's been awhile, Tai," she finally addressed him, with as much emotion as if she were discussing the weather.

"Seventeen years or so," he acknowledged.

"The years have been good to you," she noted. "I'd have thought that a teacher's life would let you get fat."

"Kids can be a handful," he answered. "But I guess you wouldn't know that, would you?"

Her eyes flashed red for a moment, but she maintained her composure.

"You're not as clever as you think you are," she told him. "It's obvious you're trying to get to Mistral. Would you mind telling me why?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea," he told her.

"You think I'd take any information you give me and use it to some horrific purpose, is that it?" She asked. "I don't have anything against the kingdoms, you know that!"

"Of course," he sneered in return. "They're your livelihood, aren't they? As long as people try to settle the lands between the kingdoms, you have towns to harvest, don't you?"

This time, her eyes remained red for longer.

"The strong survive," she reminded him, once she got control of her temper again. "The weak towns give me what I need while the strong towns are too powerful for me to touch."

"And you have to burn and slaughter when you take?" He asked.

"We've been over all of this before!" She snapped, her eyes remaining red and her hand drifting to her hilt. "Are you that different? I know what you did to my tribesmen at Tarım Koyu."

"Was that the village name? Did you get the whole truth?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I was passing by and they attacked me. I defended myself, got the better of them and continued on my way."

"And you conveniently made sure that they'd see you," Raven now sported a smile. "Knowing that they'd see an unarmed man and would attack."

"So what's the difference?" He asked her. "By my morality, I did the right thing. By your morality, even though I can't really understand it, I did right...after all, the strong survive, don't they?"

"But do the strong need to leave them behind, crippled, for the grimm to finish?" Raven's smile vanished.

"They served their purpose," Taiyang shrugged again. "The grimm focused on them and gave the townsfolk a chance to get clear. Your tribesmen were crass enough to kill their neighbors and burn their village, isn't it fair that they gave those same townsfolk a chance to escape?"

"You have changed," Raven's smile was back. "There was a time that you would have spouted off about justice. Now you'll take convenience. There's hope for you yet."

Taiyang's former lover actually laughed a little, although Taiyang himself didn't see the humor. A score or so bandits emerged from the woods, and took up positions around the arguing duo. They weren't reaching for weapons...yet...and those who Taiyang had encountered previously and left worse for wear directed some hard looks his way. For all that, the teacher hoped that he could salvage the situation...somehow.

"So, what am I to do with you?" She asked him.

"With me, or to me?"

"Believe it or not, I'm hoping to work with you, at least for a little bit," she told him. "I think we both have something that the other could use?"

"So what do you want from me?" Taiyang asked her.

"You can tell me why you're so determined to reach Mistral," she informed him.

"I could," he agreed. "But what vital piece of information would you give me, and would I survive long enough to make use of it?"

"Fair questions," she nodded. She held out a hand to one of the other bandits and snapped an order. The man handed her a strange looking gun.

Taiyang tensed and prepared to spring.

"Relax, Tai," she told him. "This isn't for you. In fact, you probably wouldn't be able to do much if even a novice aimed this at you. Watch."

Raven gestured towards a handy tree. Her followers scattered out of her firing path as she lifted the rifle to her shoulder and squeezed the trigger. While the reports were loud, they weren't excessively so. What impressed Tai was the delay between the weapon firing and the impact.

Or, more to the point, the lack of delay.

Seeing his curiosity, Raven handed the weapon back to its original bearer and gestured for her former lover to meet her at the target tree. By the time she joined him at the abused tree, he was probing at the bullet holes.

"The bullets are fast," she told him, probably unnecessarily. "They'll punch right through even a strong aura, through armor and even good weapons. I'm sure you can guess how difficult it would be to dodge these things."

"They drill deep," Taiyang noted, pulling a twig from the ground and probing the bullet holes.

"Deeper than a dust round," Raven agreed. "They hit harder, but they don't have any effects, just impact."

"Where did you get this?" Taiyang demanded. "Is it Atlas technology?"

"Hardly," she smiled, knowing that she at least had his willingness to listen. "Have you ever heard of a man named Roman Torchwick?"

"Yeah," he dropped the twig and leaned against the tree. "He was a crime-lord of sorts back in Vale. He was killed during the battle in Vale and Beacon."

"The first part is right," she smirked at him. "But not the second. A couple of months ago, he showed up and offered these to me."

"What did you have to pay?" The teacher, and headmasters' agent, demanded.

"I didn't." She informed him. "The price was too high. He offered me a dozen such weapons, but I would have to lead the tribe on a raid against Mistral's border, enough to draw a reaction from the royal defense force, near the city of Kuchinashi. Once the raid was done, I'd be able to pick up another two dozen weapons. After that, I'd be free to take on additional missions for him, or refuse, as I chose."

"This was too high a price for you?" He sneered at her. "The last I heard, you didn't need to be paid to raid."

Her eyes flashed red again. "I raid to gain what I need," she snapped in return. "Only a naive fool would think I'd raid a kingdom's city. I'm no fool! If I were to attack Kuchinashi, Mistral wouldn't rest until my tribe was nothing but a row of skulls on pikes! Even with these wonder weapons, I couldn't win!"

"So why show this weapon to me?"

"Listen and think for a few moments, don't just spew your self-righteous blither!" She snarled. "It was Roman Torchwick who made this offer! He always has a plan! He never lies, but he never tells the whole truth! When you accept something from him, you wind up paying more than you thought you would. Think, Tai! What benefit would Torchwick see from a tribe attacking the Kingdom of Mistral!"

"Okay, first of all, Mistral would muster up every fighting man and woman it could and send them to the city." Taiyang mused.

"Keep thinking," Raven's tone was more reasonable now.

"That would leave Mistral City and Windpath lightly defended," he continued. "As well as the border in general."

"That means more than you might think," she told him. "Dust is getting very rare on Anima. Atlas has declared an embargo and almost all of the trickle that gets here from Vacuo is bought by the Mistralean Military."

"So that's why one of your scouts only had three rounds in his rifle," Taiyang concluded. After a moment's thought, his eyes widened. "That makes these new weapons all the more dangerous! Without dust rounds, hunters have to get close to their opponents. Anyone armed with these weapons, even novices, could be dangerous to hunters with no dust!"

Raven nodded, "I've given you some truth, now return some to me. How did General Ironwood take the attack on Vale?"

"Very personally," Taiyang told her. "He wasn't behind it."

"I didn't think so," Raven informed her former lover. "He's every bit the naive fool that you can be."

"He's determined that it won't happen again," Taiyang continued, with a glare at the woman. Suddenly, his eyes flew wide. "Any attack on a Mistralean City could potentially bring in the Atlesian Military!"

"Leaving Atlas vulnerable, as well." Raven smugly informed him.

"Or giving someone a chance to spark an incident between Atlas and Mistral," Taiyang pointed out. "Or maybe even do both." He thought for another minute. "But if you didn't accept...did another tribe?"

"I can't be sure, but I think the Sert Asiret Tribe took him up on his offer. They moved towards Kuchinashi shortly after he met with them." Raven gave the man a level look. "I'm not about to put my tribe in the middle of a clash between kingdoms, but I'll take what I can. We're following the Sert Asiret. We're going to keep low and ready. If they took the deal that I turned down, we will move in while they're weakened after the attack. We'll take the weapons Torchwick gave them, as well as the additional ones he offered. After that, we get clear of the area."

"So why are you telling me?" Taiyang asked her.

"I can use you," she told him.

"So you want me to assist your raiders?" The man dug in his feet and crossed his arms.

"Fine!" She snapped at him. "Let's talk about the options. You can fight me right here, and I'll win. I have over a score of hardened men to back me up. You'll kill some of them, but you'll fall. You lose, I lose, and whomever is counting on you to get to Mistral loses."

"On the other hand, you come with me," she offered. "We've already gathered what we need for the journey, so your sensibilities won't be damaged by watching us raid. If the Sert Asiret attack the kingdom, you will assist us in defeating an even more bloodthirsty tribe. Afterwards, we will go our separate ways, you to finish your mission and me away from the border. No, we won't take up peaceful lives, but we won't be attacking the kingdom, either. That way, you've accomplished some of what you consider to be good."

Despite the fact that she often called Taiyang a fool, Raven knew that he wasn't one. He was running scenarios through his head. In the end, he came to the conclusion that she knew he would reach; that as long as he stayed alive, he had a chance to complete his mission.

"I guess so," he told her.

"Good," she nodded. "We move out within the hour."

* * *

"You can't do this!"

"I beg to differ," Weiss snarled at the board member. "If you look both at Atlesian Law and at the bylaws of the Schnee Dust Company, you'll see that both allow me to do this!"

"I don't mean legally," the older man protested. "I mean, we've been doing business like this since..."

"Since you gained this level of authority," Weiss finished for him. "Mr. Finanzen, you are a very capable board member but this is a clear issue of finances battling ethics. The days of ethics loosing are over."

"But it will take time to reorganize..."

"You mean it will take time for you to protect your interests," She interrupted. "You're not going to have that time. I am dead serious. I meant that the practice of paying faunas employees in company script rather than lien is ended, I have already taken steps to rectify it. As we speak, several teams of my choosing are already going through the company towns and meeting with the shift workers. They're exchanging company script for honest lien...with a twenty percent bonus."

"But the drain on our cash levels..." Finanzen complained.

"Can be absorbed," Weiss informed him. "I checked before taking this action. Now, I'm certain that the kickbacks that you've been getting from the shopkeepers who accept the company script are about to dry up. Too bad. Mr. Finanzen, you have proven to be a knowledgeable and thorough chief of finance. I can understand if you want to tender your resignation. If you do so, your severance package will be most generous. However, I ask you to remain at your post and help guide this company through the difficult weeks, maybe even years, that are about to come."

The aging man thought about it. Weiss knew that he was tempted both ways. At his age, he should be thinking of retirement and enjoying the wealth that working hard for the company had provided. On the other hand, he loved an intellectual challenge.

"I'm staying," he declared. "Miss Schnee, while I don't think that you are blinded by your ideals, I think that they are clouding your vision. I look forward to guiding your company while keeping as many of those ideals alive, as possible."

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Weiss's smile was genuine. "Now, on to the next order of business. The Kingdom of Mistral is running low on dust, even while their need for it grows. I will be having a meeting with General Ironwood in a couple of hours. The outcome of that meeting will determine the actions we will take. In any regard, I want the trading fleet taken out of mothballs. No matter what, we're going to need to move rapidly."

"Miss Schnee," her chief of exports interrupted her. "Do you really think that you can convince the general, and the rest of the council, to lift the embargo?"

"Not completely," she told him. "But I think I can make him see reason."

"Miss Schnee?" He prompted.

"Mistral and the rest of Anima need dust," she pointed out. "Even if we cannot export it from Atlas, there are other deposits on Solitas, as well as Sanus that can provide it."

"But our refining and processing facilities are in Atlas," he protested.

"Then we better develop similar facilities elsewhere," she informed him. "Do you really think that our competitors are going to sit back and just watch this market go unserved? Where ever there's a demand, someone will manage to supply. I'd prefer my company do just that, even if it's just moving raw dust to the shops in Mistral City."

"Challenging him in front of the council could aggravate the general," her chief of negotiations pointed out. "You have the council seat as the head of this company, but you are still the newest and youngest member on the council. You risk alienating yourself from the rest of the council."

"That's why I've invited the general here, tonight," she informed the man. "I'll aggravate him in private, so he isn't insulted in public."

"I still don't think he'll change his stance," the chief of exports told her.

"I'll know one way or another before the council meeting," she answered. "If I cannot get the general to see reason, I won't bring it up."

"You're learning at a frightening rate," the chief of negotiations quipped.

"Careful with the flattery," she told him, prompting a round of smiles around the conference table. "Very well, the next order of business is the safety inspections I had ordered. I have some raw data back and while some of it is acceptable, a great deal isn't, especially in the mines and factories operated by faunas. Now, I want the reports on the progress to correct the deficiencies."

"If there's one blessing to this embargo," her new chief of safety reported. "It's that we can halt operations in several of our facilities. Since there are no exports to be made and our warehouses are stuffed, there's no use creating more." He exported the files to the central projector. "As you can see, we're actually ahead of the schedule with the reforms. The only issue we have are with the personal safety equipment with some of the faunas."

"And why are the faunas suffering again," Weiss' voice dropped the temperature in the board room several degrees.

"Because faunas deviate from the human standard, such equipment doesn't always work for them," the man answered. "For example, a hard hat won't fit onto a faunas that has antlers or horns and drilling holes through a hard hat damages its integrity, making it less capable. Also, such hats are very uncomfortable for faunas with large ears. Some faunas' feet make standard safety footwear impractical. We're re-designing such items at this time, but it isn't a fast process. In the meantime, we've re-assigned the affected work force to less hazardous work."

Weiss gave the latest report a perfunctory review and was satisfied. Her own expert would be reviewing it, secretly and in greater depth, within a couple of hours.

"Very well, inform me of any issues," Weiss looked at her meeting notes. "Is there anything else?"

"I have a potential bargaining chip for you to use with your meeting with the general," her chief of product development reported.

"Oh?" She prompted.

"In theory, we could create a low-capacity and temporary substitute for the Beacon Tower relay by maintaining a transfer station at proper altitude, using aircraft." He told her. "It wouldn't be near the capacity of the CCT system, but it could handle a lesser volume...sufficient to provide the data link necessary if the general were to sortie the armed forces to either Anima or Sanus."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," she replied. "But I learned that the energy expended to keep such an aircraft at the necessary altitude would create too much interference for the data relays to operate."

"It would, if we were using dust to keep the aircraft up," he replied. "However, we are looking at using lighter than air craft...using a very large helium balloon to maintain the relay at altitude. Since the only dust propulsion we will use will be for station keeping, theoretical modeling shows that we should be able to make it work. I have started to work on a scaled model, we'll have a better grasp on feasibility within a week."

"Excellent," she nodded, but managed to keep from smiling too wide. Her idea to have Ron spend time discussing his world with the chief of product development was starting to pay off.

"Does anyone have anything else that needs to be reported?" She asked. The entire board of directors, herself included, looked at everyone else.

"Therefore, I declare this meeting adjourned," she declared. She rose to her feet, as did the rest of the board members. She remained as they collected their assorted materials, indulging in polite conversations with those closest to her, until they filed out of the conference room. Once they were all out, she allowed her shoulders to slump. She had been the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company for only a week now, and she found it every bit as exhausting as training to be a huntress. To her supreme irritation, she also found that she enjoyed it.

Maybe her father had something resembling the correct idea. She had a head and the education for this...even if the other things that he wanted still turned her stomach. Weiss filed notes and ideas for the next meeting, as well as plans to implement before it, while waiting for Kline to return. When he did so, indicating that the last of the board members had left the mansion, she went in search of her mother.

As she expected, the Schnee matron was sitting out the chilly, rainy afternoon in the heated gazebo overlooking the garden. Without a handy umbrella, the younger Schnee woman lifted her jacket over her head and sprinted from the mansion proper to the garden structure.

"A proper lady doesn't run," her mother informed her, once she closed the door behind her.

"I didn't have an umbrella," Weiss informed her. "So it was either run or become soaked."

"I never ran through cold rain in my life," the elder Schnee stated.

"I didn't want to take the time..." Weiss began.

"I wish that I had, when I was young enough to enjoy it," Einsam told her daughter. "You were always a willful child, like your sister. I was always the obedient girl, accepting my place in the world. I thought that the two of you were trials for me. Now, I wish that I had been more like you two."

Weiss struggled to find something to say.

"I'm afraid that Whitley is too much his father's son to take over the business," Einsam continued. "And Winter is too entrenched in the military. I'm afraid that this leaves you to run the family business. However, I'm afraid that you might be too much your father's daughter, in the end."

"Mother?" Weiss felt more than a little insulted.

"Do you think that your father was always so cold and ruthless?" Einsam caught her daughter with an unyielding eye. "There was a time that he was fiercely loyal to his friends, idealistic and passionate. No dear, we didn't always have this marriage of convenience; when we were first wed, it was filled with happiness. When we found out that Winter was on the way, we were overjoyed." Her words trailed off and her gaze grew distant, clearly recalling happier times.

"Mother, I apologize if my actions drove father away," Weiss offered. "I should have known that I couldn't displace him as the CEO, but still keep him as a father..."

"Don't befoul the language by using that word to describe what he became!" Einsam interrupted. "We started as a loving young couple, but we did not remain one. The last several years were a pale shadow. It is better that it came to a complete end, rather than struggling along, a mockery of what it was. Perhaps that is why I took no action until you prompted me to do so; I was so blinded by what had been that I couldn't see what it had become."

"Mother, if I may be so bold, how did your marriage become..." Weiss couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

"I wish I knew for certain," the matron returned her gaze to the present. "I believe that we worked so hard to show a cold and hard facade to the rest of Atlas that we became what we were trying to portray. He wanted everyone to believe that he was a ruthless, clever businessman so badly that he became one. I wanted everyone to believe that I was a stern and unyielding wife and mother, so I became one, as well. Eventually, he became uncaring of those around him, including me. I became obsessed with propriety to the point that my own children didn't know what a mother was supposed to be."

"That cannot be the entire explanation," Weiss protested, noting a tear flowing down her mother's cheek.

"Of course not," Einsam agreed. "The entire explanation, all of the details and intricacies would take much more time to discuss than you have available. In the end, the important thing is that the two of us forgot the vows we took when we married."

"I've read your vows," Weiss pointed out. "They seemed more a business agreement than a declaration of...love."

"Those were our public vows, dear," Einsam smiled sadly. "We pledged to each other to not be a stodgy, proper couple. We were determined to be renegades and live life our way. In the end, we preferred the approval of strangers to each others love."

Silence reigned for several minutes, as Weiss could think of nothing else to say. Finally, she noted an open spreadsheet on her mother's screen.

"Mother, could I inquire as to your activity?"

"So formal, even with it is just the two of us," Einsam sighed. "I guess I have only myself to blame. No matter, I am balancing the household budget."

"But mother, Kline takes care of that and reports any issues!" Weiss protested.

"Yes dear, so I'm sure if I make errors, he will be able to correct them. I have spent the last several years in a haze, so I must start accepting responsibility if I am to function properly. Our doctors and I agreed that this is a good way to start. Now, dear, what do you have next on your personal schedule?"

"A session with the fencing instructor in ten minutes," Weiss told her.

"Do not miss it," Einsam insisted. "Be yourself even as you execute your duties as the chairwoman of the board. Your outside interest will be vital in keeping you...yourself. I will be fine here, but I hope to see you at dinner tonight."

"Of course," Weiss agreed. She stepped forward and extended her hands. Her mother didn't get up, but actually pulled her in a little. It was a clumsy, awkward embrace.

But it was a start.

Buoyed by hope for the future, Weiss turned in a powerful performance against her instructor. The man was suitably impressed and said that he would have to up his performance to keep challenging her. Feeling still better, she prepared herself for what promised to be a much less pleasant interaction, with General Ironwood.

By the time the officer showed up, she was seated in her father's old chair, behind his desk, and was waiting for him. When Kline ushered the man into the study, she rose, as a proper hostess. He was taken slightly aback, as she undoubtedly looked somewhat out of place, holding court from the location her father had for so long.

"Miss Schnee," the general inclined his head slightly.

"General Ironwood," she returned the gesture, studying the man closely. There were bags under his eyes and he hadn't bothered shaving for this meeting. This confirmed what her discussions with Ron, and the recordings from the man's office, had suggested.

This was going to be every bit as necessary as it was unpleasant.

"Won't you please be seated," she gestured to a comfortable chair in front of the desk. "You're welcome to a drink, if you'd like. You'll understand if I don't join you."

"A stiff one would be welcome, but probably not a good idea," he answered, lowering himself into the chair. Once he was seated, Weiss dropped into her father's chair.

"Thank you for coming," she told him. "I have some issues that I need to bring up at the council meeting, tomorrow, and I wanted to discuss them with you before doing so."

"Are you trying to convince me to support you, or are you testing to see if I will?" He asked her.

"Both," she admitted. "As well as trying to avoid embarrassment for both of us."

"Very well, what are you going to bring up?"

"Tomorrow, I will formally request that the council end the dust embargo," she declared.

"That was very blunt," Ironwood noted. "And I will oppose it, and my faction is stronger."

"In which case, my trading fleet will come out of mothballs and concentrate on moving dust from Vacuo and Vale, to Mistral." She told him. "Schnee agents will begin working harder outside the kingdoms, finding new deposits to mine. If necessary, additional agents will start to construct refining facilities in the other three kingdoms, so that I can maintain my operations despite the embargo."

"That is treason!" The general snarled at her.

"Is it?" She challenged him. "I fail to see how a miner in Vacuo, loading dust onto a ship for delivery to a refining facility in Vale, for further shipment to Mistral, is in any way treason against Atlas."

"Because you are ordering it," General Ironwood growled. "You are funding it and profiting from it."

"I would prefer that all refining operations take place in Atlas, where my facilities are currently located and where my home kingdom will gain tax revenues from my operations" Weiss told him. "If this is not possible, I will provide for my customers, and my employees, by establishing such facilities outside of Atlas."

"And you'll be arming our enemies," he pointed out.

"What enemies?" Weiss allowed a little of her irritation to show. "Do you have any evidence that Vacuo is preparing to attack us, or Mistral? Is Vale, even after the attack, mustering for an attack?"

"I have no evidence that any of them are not!" He growled back.

"And in the meantime, the citizens of Mistral, who's kingdom is not preparing an attack on this kingdom, are forced to face the grimm and whomever attacked Vale with no dust." Weiss met his gaze without flinching. "Before the attack on Vale, Roman Torchwick went on a crime spree, stealing dust, making it both scarce and expensive. Now, attacks on the outskirts of Mistral as well as piracy, have done the same in that kingdom."

"How can you know this?" Ironwood demanded.

"It's called market analysis," she retorted. "It's my job to know what customers need. However, I only suspected until your last question."

Ironwood scowled at her.

"Tell me, General," she continued. "Do you want the Kingdom of Mistral to fall, or be crippled, like Vale?"

"Of course not!" He snapped back. "I have reorganized the Atlesian Military and am prepared. If and when an assault strikes Mistral, I will sortie to its aid!"

"Then why deny them dust?" She demanded. "Why rob them of the ability to defend themselves?"

"That isn't the intention!" He insisted.

"But it _is_ the result," she retorted.

"And what will the results be if I lift the embargo?" He demanded. "Greater profits for the Schnee Dust Company!"

"As well as a kingdom more capable of defending itself," Weiss answered, prepared for this argument. "And regular, economic contacts between Mistral and Atlas. _And_ increased tax revenues for both kingdoms."

"How incredibly noble of you!" Weiss swore she could see the sarcasm dripping from the general's mouth.

"General..." she stopped after a moment, determined to gain control over her temper before speaking.

"General," she finally continued. "We both have interests that we represent, and which don't fully match each others'. We both have reason to suspect the other. However, can we at least agree that we both have good intentions? I want to keep my employees employed and my customers served. You want to keep the people of Atlas safe."

After a moment, the general nodded.

"Very well, let me present my case first," Weiss took a deep breath. "General, I currently have a large employee base that has nothing to do. Very shortly, I'm either going to have to lay them off completely, with potentially devastating consequences to our economy, or I'm going to have to find some way of putting them to work. I'm convinced that the other three kingdoms are not preparing any form of attack upon Atlas. Do you have evidence to the contrary?"

"Miss Schnee," the general replied, now very courteous. "Our enemy is clever and convinced the rest of Remnant that Atlas attacked Vale. I have no intention of seeing the people of Atlas subjected to the horrors of an invasion. No, I don't have evidence that the other three kingdoms are not preparing an attack, but I also have no evidence that they are not."

"General, isn't it impossible to prove a negative?" She asked.

"Miss Schnee," again, General Ironwood was all civility. "I sat and listened to you present your case, could you please extend the same courtesy to me?"

"My apologies, general, please continue."

"Very well," he nodded again. "No, I do not have any proof of no aggression and I freely acknowledge that it is impossible to prove a negative. However, I have agents in the other three kingdoms...just as I am certain that they have agents in Atlas. I have been unable to uncover that these kingdoms are stockpiling dust but I cannot be that they are not."

Weiss took her time, preparing her argument, even though she had already prepared the gist of it.

"General," she finally addressed him again. "Would additional intelligence sources be welcome to you?"

"Of course," he told her, giving her a piercing look.

"Then let the Schnee Dust Company be that source," she told him. "I have highly efficient refining capabilities, right here in Atlas. I can deliver dust, in the form of powder, crystals and ammunition, to the other kingdoms much more economically than anybody else can. Let me do it, but regulate and observe. If I am delivering the dust to Mistral, then you will have a much better idea of how much dust is being delivered to Mistral! Regulate what I export and make sure that you have the stockpiles you require to defend Atlas!"

"But the uncertainty!" He protested. "Any dust that leaves Atlas can be turned against us!"

"General, hypothetically speaking, what would your first actions be if you were to plan a war of conquest against any of the other kingdoms?"

"Miss Schnee?" His question was as much a protest as a request for clarification.

"Wouldn't you seek to deny them the resources they need to defend themselves?" She asked. "Wouldn't you seek to eliminate their ability to communicate with each other? From their point of view, wouldn't it look like it does, right now?"

He didn't seem to have an answer.

"Let us trade, under restrictions that you put in place," she pleaded with him. "If I re-establish the dust trade, the other three kingdoms will demand that a certain percentage of the trade be carried by cargo ships with their flags. That's fine, let their sailors, and a few spies, visit our ports. Let them see that everyone is nervous about the tensions between the kingdoms. Let them learn that you have reorganized the military, so that real people are making the decision to shoot or not. Let them see our peaceful intent."

"Very well, Miss Schnee," he nodded. "At tomorrow's council meeting, I will announce my intent to allow limited dust trade. We can argue about the quantities allowed; in fact, I'm sure that we will. However, I have a request to make of you, in turn."

"And that is?" Her eyebrow rose with her suspicion.

"I do not trust your father," James Ironwood told her. "While you have guards with you, I suspect that he may have contacts and may put one of his own men in your household. You are most capable, but you are only one person. If you had a second, capable person in this house with you, I would sleep much better at night."

"So you want to put a guard on me?" She allowed a touch of her irritation at the idea to creep into her voice. "The council will get more than a little suspicious, even if I were to consent to such a situation."

"Not so much a guard, as a friend," General Ironwood corrected. "If you, as the current legal head of the Schnee Family, were to allow a refugee, one Ronald Stoppable, to stay here, I would feel much better about your situation."

"Ron's a friend," Weiss agreed. "I'll be happy to have him stay here."

"Very well," he nodded. "The two of you will, of course, be free to attend classes and other training at Atlas, as your duties here allow. However, I must warn you of one thing."

"And that is?" Her eyebrow went up again.

"He's a healthy, active young man," now, the ghost of a smile appeared on the general's face. "Feeding him may cost more than you realize."

* * *

 _A/N: As always, my thanks to my ever-patient beta reader, Joe Stoppinghem._


	14. Chapter 14

"Weiss told me that we would have a guest, who might you be?" Einsam Schnee addressed the young, blonde man who had just been ushered into her presence by Kline.

"Ron, Ron Stoppable," the visitor answered, extending a hand. "You must be Weiss's sister, Winter."

"Mother...Ron!" Weiss burst into the sitting room.

"Mother?" Ron's eyes widened at the older lady.

"Ah Weiss," Einsam addressed her daughter. "Our guest was just subjecting me to false flattery."

"I...I...I'm sorry," Ron stammered.

"I didn't say that it was unwelcome, young man," the matron of the Schnee household corrected him. "Just false. Now I understand that in addition to some secret background, you are an accomplished huntsman."

"Err...that might be overstating things," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Are you armed at this time?" She asked him.

"Yes ma'am," he produced his tonfa, from their loops at his back, and held them out to her.

"I do not wish to examine them," she informed him. "However, I understand that you and my daughter are about to receive a lesson from her fencing instructor. I would like to observe this lesson."

"Of course, mother." Weiss inclined her head.

"Kline," the elder Schnee addressed her servant. "Please inform Whitley that he will be observing this lesson, as well." When the servant bowed and exited her sitting room, she looked at her daughter's companion.

"Ron," Weiss informed him. "It's customary for a gentleman to offer a lady his arm when she wishes to relocate to another room."

"Whoa, I'm a gentleman now?" He wondered, eyes open in amazement, as he offered Einsam his arm.

"Not by any measure," the matron informed him. "However, it is by playing the part that one fits oneself into the role."

"Sorry," Ron murmured. "I'm still not over the fact that you're not Weiss's sister."

"Your grammar also needs work," Einsam informed him, setting the pace towards the Schnee family gymnasium. "But the intent is not completely unappreciated."

Ron swore he heard Weiss snicker a little bit, yet by the time he looked at her, her face showed only cold, correct reverence for her mother. The trio made their way through the extensive mansion, leaving Ron stunned at the display of opulence. He had been through several wealthy mansions on Earth; even Buckingham Palace on one occasion, desperately pursuing one of the Queen's prize Corgis to extract one of Drakken's explosive ticks. He mentally placed this mansion as either the third or fourth most pretentious home he had ever been in.

Yet, he wouldn't want to live in such a place...even though he was at the moment. It seemed cold to him, like a display you were supposed to appreciate from a distance. It was something that was supposed to impress, even intimidate guests, not make them feel welcome. When they passed by a family portrait, painted perhaps five years ago judging by Weiss's appearance, Ron noted that there were no smiles. The father, Jacques, had an expression of haughty pride on his face. The younger Einsam's expression reflected superiority while the two girls looked like they wished they were somewhere else. The boy, Whitley, actually looked at least marginally happy to be there.

Deciding that the expressions were important, but unable to come up with why, Ron followed Weiss past the painting and to the Schnee Family Gymnasium. Once there, Weiss directed him towards a chair, where he delivered the matron. Then it was time to stretch out and warm up in preparation for the upcoming workout. While he and Weiss were preparing, the youngest Schnee, Whitley, showed up. Ron was too far away to overhear the interaction between mother and son, but the boy took a seat next to his mother, looking less than happy about being there. Then the instructor arrived.

Ron knew the type; arrogant, demanding, unpleasant...and able to back up every bit of smug superiority. The man quickly banished Ron to a one side of the gym while he went over some forms with his student. Apparently, he was satisfied, barely, with the practice she had been doing to keep her form correct. He then sparred with her, a clash that had Ron spending more time staring than working out. Again, the man was barely satisfied with her performance. After the match, he called Ron over and addressed the two of them.

"I understand that the two of you have come up with something you call the conditioning course," he addressed the two, younger fighters.

"We set the course up yesterday, Master Schwertlehrer." Weiss informed him.

"And your mother and I will be able to watch from here," the man activated a petition on his scroll. "It is tied into the estate's security cameras. While you have leagues to go in form, your endurance and agility is almost impressive. I want the two of you to run this course like you have been, while I observe."

Sharing a quick glance, Weiss and Ron activated the proper petitions on their own scrolls before rushing out of the room. The fencing master sat next to the Schnee matron and allowed her to watch the two.

"Master Schwertlehrer," the elder Schnee addressed the man she was paying to train her daughter. "What is your honest evaluation of my daughter's capabilities?"

"She's an incredible talent," the man answered. "She has mastered the use of her rapier, as well as dust and her semblance. I have seen her tear through a grimm horde like a rock through glass. She needs work on her endurance but she is a formidable fighter."

"And her companion?" Einsam asked.

"A mystery," he admitted. "He is also formidable, but his strengths are different that Weiss's. He has strength and durability, but not the speed and finesse that your daughter possesses. He is also better at improvisation, reacting to an unexpected situation. Together, they are even more formidable...observe."

On the screen, Einsam could see Ron and her daughter approaching a hanging, target dummy. Both of the younger people's scrolls gave them orders, as Weiss executed a thrust and slash combination before sprinting along the course the two had made. Ron, somewhat behind her, executed some sort of blocking action with his tonfa before landing a spinning kick. Then he was off, sprinting in an effort to close the gap with the younger Schnee woman.

"Note that Weiss is quicker," Master Schwertlehrer told Einsam. "She bursts more quickly from the targets but he has more speed, he takes a bit longer to get up to his full speed, but that speed is greater than hers."

"It seems a barbaric application of simple physics," Whitley commented. "She has a smaller body, so of course it alters course and speed faster than his. On the other hand, he has a larger muscle mass, so of course he is stronger and has greater straight-line speed over a distance."

"Barbaric?" The fencing master questioned the young man. "Do you not see the skill and grace the two exhibit? See how they push themselves to their limits, and beyond. Can't you see the dedication, the determination?"

"I see barbarism," Whitley informed him. I see a Schnee, the heiress to the world's largest company, wasting her time and risking her reputation. She could be meeting with business associates and corporate customers. She has an excellent and well honed voice, so she could be preparing a concert, promoting the good name of the Schnee family. Instead, she's sprinting through our grove with an uncouth companion, hacking at targets. If our social peers were to see this, it would be a disgrace."

"Or they would be even more impressed," Einsam told him. "She fought at the Battle of Beacon when the White Fang and our own mechs attacked."

"With no reliable witnesses to her deeds," her son retorted. "What good are such actions and risks if they don't bring any form of benefit?" He squinted his eyes at the projection. "Now they are taunting each other as they run, probably subjecting each other to insults. Is that what you want, mother, a refugee abusing your hospitality by insulting your heiress?"

"You may note that your sister is smiling, despite her exertions," Einsam told her youngest child. "Is it too much to wish your sister to enjoy herself?"

"Only if it doesn't harm the family position, mother." Whitley pointed out. "What if she needs to meet with company representatives at short notice? She will be flushed, sweaty and quite possibly sporting cuts, contusions and bruises. Look at this!"

On the display, Ron had overtaken Weiss as they burst from the grove of trees. He easily vaulted over a hedge, with Weiss on his heels, to land on a tennis court. They immediately squared off against each other, Weiss with Myrtenaster against Ron with his weapon in staff form.

"Tennis is a proper activity," Whitley told the matron. "Excellent exercise without the risk of severe injury that this barbaric combat training includes. Look at that!"

The youngest Schnee gestured towards the projection, where Weiss had unleashed a gout of flame from her rapier. Ron twirled his staff, generating a gust of wind that swept the flame back towards his opponent. The young man closed on the young woman while she executed a cartwheel, sidestepping both flame and attacker.

"She could have injured him," Whitley informed his mother. "Or worse, been injured herself when he turned her dust against her. Is that what you want, mother? Do you want our peers asking how Weiss maimed her companion? Do you want her going to a board meeting, sporting burns? I'm _so_ certain they will be much more respectful of our family under either circumstance."

"Don't take that sarcastic tone with me," Einsam rebuked her son. "You've not yet earned the right to have that attitude. Look at how quickly she moves!"

The three observers watches as Weiss set a dark colored glyph behind Ron and came on with a low thrust. Ron blocked and stepped back, contacting the glyph. The symbol acted like an accelerator, sending him sprawling. Weiss was quickly in pursuit, lunging through the same glyph and transforming herself into a spear.

To Master Schwertlehrer's practiced eye, Ron avoided the first thrust through pure luck; he tumbled across the ground and Weiss' strike was just behind, drawing sparks from the concrete surface. By the time she made her next strike, he was somersaulting across the cement, intentionally giving her a moving target. By her third thrust he was doing a series of handsprings, keeping out of her range. Weiss made another quick gesture and a wall of ice appeared behind Ron.

Ron slammed headlong into the solid water but quickly spun around to face his opponent, staff twirling in front of him so fast that it blurred. Again, it was more luck, random chance that deflected Wiess' rapier from a telling strike against him. Weiss didn't waste motion by pulling back for another thrust; she slashed at the young man. Ron dropped low and scissored her legs with his as the rapier slashed over his head. A quick twist of his hips dropped Weiss onto her face.

"Is that what you want, mother?" Whitley demanded of his parent. "It's barbaric!"

"It's skill," the fencing instructor told him. "Assailants are not going to play by the rules, so this is excellent training for both."

Einsam simply watched as her daughter swept her off arm above her head, taking the strike from Ron's staff on her forearm rather than her head while slashing his legs. Both combatants' aura prevented injury but not pain. Ron limped a little and Weiss shook her arm as they scrambled to their feet.

Now that they were in very close quarters, Ron separated the staff into tonfa, but his movements weren't completely smooth. The slight delay gave Weiss the opportunity to surround the two of them with a series of white glyphs. She launched herself from one of them, sending herself ricocheting between the symbols, constantly leading with her rapier, striking at her opponent with every pass. Ron responded by keeping a spinning tonfa between the two of them, deflecting her strikes until he found a gap between the symbols dove through.

He managed a front somersault and sprang to his feet, spinning around as Weiss launched herself through the same gap he had used. Ron stepped to his right and twirled his tonfa, generating a gust of wind that actually deflected Weiss' path. The petite young woman was very agile, managing a tuck and roll. She spun to face her opponent just as Ron was in an all-out charge. She put her rapier's point onto the cement, causing a sheet of ice to extend towards her attacker. Ron's feet shot out from under him and he sprawled onto his back while Weiss stepped to the side. As he slid past her, he shifted the grip on one tonfa to the long arm, reached out, and hooked her ankle with the handle. With a shriek, she was pulled off of her feet and along with him on the slide.

The ice slide ended at the net. At the speed the two were sliding, they slid right under the flimsy barrier, hit the cement on the other side and started to roll. It didn't end the contest; they grappled each other, trying to get the advantage. Ron dropped his tonfa and managed to catch Weiss' weapon wrist. When they stopped, Weiss was on top of him, he had seized her left wrist with his left hand and clamped his right hand on the side of her face. He lightly tapped her eyelid with his thumb and she conceded the match.

"He could have torn her eye out, had this been a real fight," Master Schwertlehrer informed the two.

"They make my point!" Whitley declared. "Not only could either of them have been seriously injured, look at the two of them right now! It looks like they're...well, you know. What about the neighbors, or the servants? Certainly, Kline is the absolute soul of discretion but what about the groundskeepers or others who could be seeing them at this moment? Certainly they will speak to their fellows at the questionable establishments they visit in the evenings. Within days, our neighbors and rivals will certainly know that Weiss is...rolling on the ground...with this refugee."

Einsam simply maintained a neutral expression as she observed the two young people struggling to catch their breath. Her daughter seemed to be in no particular hurry to climb off of her companion, resting her head on his chest while both of their chests heaved with the effort to pull in enough oxygen. After a minute or so, Weiss disentangled her legs from his, planted her hands on his chest and pushed herself to her feet. She then gave him a hand up and the two bumped shoulders against each other, a gesture that seemed something like a handshake. With the two of them on their feet, Ron collected his tonfa and Weiss pointed at them. In response, Ron twirled them again, generating a gust of wind that made the net strain. Weiss made several more gestures and Ron shrugged, looking interested.

Vaulting lightly over the net, Weiss walked to a point roughly twenty feet away from the ice wall she had previously formed. Twirling the chamber in Myrtenaster's hilt, she spun and brought the blade to the cement. A block of ice appeared where the point met the ground. She performed a back handspring away form her creation while Ron jumped forward, a blue glint appearing around him, and grabbed the block. He lifted it into the air and executed an uppercut on the frozen water, shattering it. Before the shards could reach the ground he spun around, pulled out his staff and twirled it, generating another powerful gust of wind. Ice shards were sent flying into the previous ice wall.

Ron slowed his staff to a motionless state and Weiss joined him. Together, the two went to the ice wall and started to examine points where the wind-driven shards had struck the wall.

"Innovation and teamwork," Master Schwertlehrer noted. "The two are good opponents to practice against each other but since their styles are so different, they make powerful teammates."

"You are free to return to your current activities, Whitley," the matron informed her son. When the boy left, she faced the instructor.

"Master Schwertlehrer," she addressed the man. "What is your honest evaluation of my daughter and her companion?"

"Weiss is an excellent student," the instructor informed her. "Outstanding form, marred only by the constraints of actual conflict that she has endured. Her companion has skills of a different sort and could use additional instruction, but his is formidable in his own right."

"If some vagabonds were to gain entry to my mansion," Einsam postulated. "Would these two be able to defend the household?"

"I truly pity any but the most elite who may face either of them," the fencing master assured his patron. "They are each formidable and seem to be forming a partnership that makes them even more capable."

"That's what I suspected," she nodded. "What will you be telling them when they return?"

"I will, of course, tell them that their form and skill are abhorrent, needing dedication and practice to hone. I will tell them that while the course they created is a good workout, they need to run it faster and with their combat maneuvers more powerful and precise. I will tell them that they wouldn't be able to stand several seconds against a season hunter, so they must hone their teamwork more."

"Very well," Einsam allowed the ghost of a smile to flicker across her face. "I will let you admonish your student, and her companion, for imaginary shortcomings. I trust you can find the way on your own?"

"Indeed, madam Schnee," the man offered a slight bow, knowing a dismissal when he was presented with one.

"Kline," Einsam addressed her servant, once the fencing master had left.

"M'lady?"

"We must determine where we are going to house Mr. Stoppable," the matron informed him. "This, of course depends upon how my daughter views him. Is he a guest, a servant, or something else?"

"If I may be so bold," the efficient man answered. "Mistress Weiss confided in me while she was preparing to wrest control of the company from your husband."

"Soon to be ex husband," Einsam informed him. "But please continue."

"Of course, ma'am. Your younger daughter stated several times that she felt better after sparring with the young man."

"We each relieve stress in our own way," Einsam mused. She thought for a short time before continuing. "I suppose sparring and training is preferable to what I used to do. Physical activity is much easier on your liver."

The manservant didn't have an answer to this statement.

"I understand that she has rearranged her room, providing herself with an area to exercise," she continued.

"Indeed," Kline answered. "I returned it to its original state after she fled, but she reorganized it again, once she moved back to the mansion."

"Then I suppose we had best place Mr. Stoppable in the guest wing," Einsam instructed the man. "It's fairly close to the family's wing. I suspect that she's going to be in a great deal of stress as she attempts to run this company, so it will be better if she doesn't have to go very far to work off that stress."

"Yes ma'am," Kline looked slightly dubious.

"Also, I suspect that General Ironwood was somewhat concerned that Jacques may try something. Placing the young man close to the family will give him the opportunity to intervene, should that happen."

"Good thinking, Milady."

"I suppose we had also best see to his wardrobe," she continued. "I suspect that as a refugee, he didn't bring much in the way of clothing with him. While his current apparel is suitable for physical activities, he will have to look a proper gentleman when visitors see him."

"Of course, madam."

"What's on Weiss' schedule next?" She asked.

"It would appear that after an hour, she is scheduled to meet with a couple of company employees," he answered, examining his scroll. "Then she and Mr. Stoppable are to go to the academy for some classes."

"So, she will be using the hour before her meeting to clean up?" Einsam prompted.

"Almost certainly, madam."

"In that case, please send Mr. Stoppable to meet me in the garden," she instructed. "I wish to have a walk about the grounds. If he is to be a guardian of sorts, he may as well accompany me."

"Indeed, madam," Kline nodded. He then paused, "I'll see to it that you are not disturbed."

"Of course you'd know the true reason," Einsam sighed, but smiled. "I wish to speak with this young man without Weiss nearby."

* * *

Ron found himself in over his head. He was used to the kind of lecture that he and Weiss had received from the fencing master; the ' _you are scum but not quite complete scum_ ' sort of tongue-lashing. He had received it from football coaches dozens of times. It was the part that came afterwards that had him nervous. Einsam Schnee wanted to have a word with him.

Somehow, that lady scared him worse than Shego ever had.

Still, it wouldn't do to keep her waiting, as he was pretty sure that she'd only get more angry if time passed. The butler, Kline, quickly ushered him to a gazebo in the garden.

"Ah, Mr. Stoppable, quite prompt. I approve of that." Her approval didn't translate to a smile.

"It's never polite to keep your hostess waiting," Ron hoped that was the correct thing to say.

"Indeed," she looked him up and down, leaving him wondering if he had said the correct thing or if she was wondering where the whips would best be applied.

"I would like to take a stroll about my garden," she finally informed him. "And I hate to do so, alone. Would you be so kind as to accompany me?"

"Sure..I mean, it would be my honor," he offered her a bow much like Yori's. While her eyebrow quirked up slightly, she seemed more curious than anything else.

Hoping for the best, the stepped forward and offered her his arm, only to back off quickly.

"I have produced three children," she told him, guessing his hesitation. "I can handle a bit of sweat."

This time, she seemed slightly amused.

Ron offered her his hand, helping her to her feet. After this, he offered her his arm and allowed her to set course out of the small building. He got the door for her and accompanied her onto a sidewalk that wound through well-manicured roses and shrubs.

"You aren't used to being a gentleman," she declared, after a few minutes walking. "But you wish to make a good impression."

"I can't argue with that," he admitted.

"I am going to be bluntly honest with you," she told him. "And I wish you to be the same with me."

Ron gulped. A declaration of blunt honesty was rarely a good thing.

"I like you, Mr. Stoppable, and do you know why?"

Ron shook his head.

"I observed you and my daughter running upon the training course. While I couldn't hear what you were saying, I suspect that you were trading insults."

"Mrs. S-S-Schnee," he stammered. "I was...but it was meant to be fun..."

"Do you know what else I saw, Mr. Stoppable?" The matron interrupted him.

Ron shook his head again.

"I saw my daughter smiling," she stopped and turned towards the young man, releasing his arm. "I didn't just see my daughter running a training course, I saw my daughter enjoying herself. She's physically fit and was taking joy in utilizing that capability. When you were sparring against her, I saw her reveling in utilizing the skills she has worked so hard to master. At the conclusion of the match, I saw her enjoying comradeship with a young man she was attempting to skewer, mere moments before."

Ron gulped again, recalling how the match ended.

"I believe I would like to walk some more," she told him. Taking the hint, Ron again offered his arm and allowed her to set the course and pace.

"I have given you blunt honesty, Mr. Stoppable," she continued, once they were in motion again. "And now it's your turn. What is your impression of my daughter?"

Ron would have felt considerably more comfortable if she asked him to low-crawl over broken glass.

"She's incredibly intelligent and well-educated," Ron said, hoping he had latched onto a safe topic.

"Indeed," the sidelong glance that accompanied Einsam's statement told Ron that it wasn't the answer she wanted. "We paid a great deal to have our children tutored by the best available. Tell me more about Weiss."

"She's skillful and dedicated," Ron told her. "And willing to teach. I've come a long way with her help."

"This is also true," the Schnee admitted. "When Jacques and I learned that she wanted to take up weaponry, we hired an excellent master. This master helped her select a proper weapon. We then provided her with both the best such weapon and the best training available." Einsam stopped again and faced Ron directly. "Mr. Stoppable, I'm sure you are aware of what I wish to know. Please stop playing the part of the bashful boy and tell me!"

 _"Please stick your head into a lion's mouth."_

"She's a very pretty girl," Ron admitted. "And while she presents a cold and proper face to the world, she really, really cherishes her friends. I'm...flattered...that she considers me just that."

"Very proper," Einsam commented. "So now, tell me, do you find her attractive?"

"Yes," Ron's voice came out as a squeak.

"Yet you don't seem to be acting like you do," she observed. "Why is this?"

"Mrs. Schnee," Ron found a little backbone to stand up to his hostess. "Do you _want_ me to flirt with your daughter?"

"I haven't decided yet," she told him. "I will base such a decision, as well as how I treat you in the future, on why you aren't."

"There's someone waiting for me back home," he informed her. "We've been friends since we were four years old, and...er...romantically attached for two years." He didn't see the need to tell the older woman just how close he and KP had become.

"Interesting," Einsam's eyebrow rose again. "Have you remained in contact with her?"

"There's no way of letting her know that I'm alive and safe," he admitted. _At least, I don't know for sure._

"General Ironwood asked me to not dig too deep into your past," she told the young man. "I note that you look somewhat different from anyone I've met. Does that have anything to do with your inability to contact your...shall we call her your companion?"

"Companion will be fine," Ron assured her. "And yes, my eyes are small and my nose and mouth are large compared to most on Remn...er...Atlas. Yes, this has a great deal to do with why I can't contact Kim."

"So you treat my daughter as a respected friend and colleague," Einsam prompted him.

"Yes," Ron confirmed.

The Schnee matron considered this for some time before taking Ron's arm and walking some more.

"Mr. Stoppable," she finally asked. "What if Weiss shows romantic interest towards you?"

"I can't do anything about it," Ron told her. "It wouldn't be fair to her or to KP."

"So you intend to return to your home?"

"If I can," Ron told her. "My parents are there, my little sister, Rufus and KP."

"The names mean little to me," Einsam told him. "Although I understand your sentiment. Now, I would like to discuss something that I never managed to give my daughter."

"Of course," Ron tried to be polite.

"You've seen our wealth," she used her free hand to gesture about the estate. "And I assure you that we didn't horde it when we provided for our children. Our daughters received the best education available...and Whitley continues to do so. Both Winter and Weiss received extensive fencing instruction. Weiss received instruction from fine vocal tutors while Winter received the finest ballet instruction. They were going to be the best at what they did."

Ron couldn't come up with something to say in return.

"But we failed," she admitted. "The one thing that we didn't give them was friends." She shook her head, bitterly. "Why would they need friends? They had us, they had tutors and instructors! We took them with us to social events, letting everyone see the wonderful children that we had produced. Why would the children need other children?"

Still Ron couldn't think of anything to say.

"It was control," Einsam finally admitted. "We carefully exposed them to other young people from families we wanted our children to associate with. We wanted to make sure that our children would form bonds with those we deemed proper."

Ron suddenly realized that Einsam liked him. Was it possible that she considered him 'proper'?

"In the end, none of my three children managed to form strong bonds with others," she sighed. "Winter rebelled, leaving the path we had laid out for her by first attending Atlas Academy and then joining the Atlesian Military. She's doing well, climbing at an impressive rate. We should have supported her decision. How many families would hold her up as a shining example to her younger siblings? We ostracized her, for daring to follow her own talents and ambitions."

"Are you proud of her?" Ron asked.

"Of course," Einsam told him.

"Have you told her?"

"Ah, a cruel question," Einsam replied. "No. She's out of the kingdom, I believe she's some sort of attache in Mistral. Inter-continental communications are down, so I've sent a scroll message to her, both telling her how proud I am and asking her to visit when she can. As the CCT system is down, I do not believe that she has received this message, so I haven't told her, face-to-face."

For the next few minutes, they walked in silence.

"Weiss rebelled even more," she finally said. "She left Atlas to attend Beacon Academy and there, she found what we never provided her."

"Friendship," Ron surmised. "Mrs. Schnee, I don't know if this is impolite, but I'm going to come out and ask. Has your aura been activated?"

"No," she shook her head. "And it isn't impolite."

"Weiss activated mine," Ron told her. "When that happened, I got a glimpse into her soul, like she did with me. The biggest impression I got was that she was lonely and missed the friends that she had made."

"That is a regret that I have," Einsam admitted. "She didn't text often after she went to Beacon, but those messages she sent were about her team and an allied team. I will admit that I spent a great deal of that time in a drunken haze, but upon reading them now it is clear to me that she cherished her friends. Then came a tragic day when Beacon fell, and Jacques, the fool, ran and fetched her back to us."

"Foolish?" Ron asked.

"Oh, he made a good argument," Einsam sighed. "A logical argument. _It clearly isn't safe in Vale, what kind of parents would we be if we left our daughter and heiress in such a place._ " She shook her head. "She needed to be with her teammates, to comfort them and receive comfort. Instead, I agreed that she should come back here, even if it meant that she lost track of them."

Again, they walked in silence for a few minutes. The winding path directed them back towards the gazebo.

"You are both her teammate and her friend," Einsam declared. "And I've seen that she's very happy when she's dueling against you."

Ron suddenly froze.

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Stoppable?" She asked.

"No," he shook his head. "Just thinking about how you want her to be happy. I've heard that line before."

"Of course I want her to be happy," she informed him, her words curt and clipped. "Mr. Stoppable, you know that she's had very few friends in her life and even fewer young men as close companions. For all that she's very intelligent and very driven in her goals, it will be very easy for her to blur the line between a friend who is a boy and a boyfriend."

"Mrs. Schnee, I'll never..."

"Mr. Stoppable," she interrupted him. "A proper gentleman never interrupts a lady. Now, I suspect that you were about to assure me that you will never let your relationship with my daughter cross the line between friendship and romance. That isn't the assurance I demand. I want you to promise me that you'll never take advantage of her isolation and inexperience in such matters."

"I don't think I understand the issue," Ron confessed. "If I won't let things cross that line, how can I take advantage..."

"Young man." The matron stopped and turned towards him again. "You are in a position where you can inadvertently cause her more emotional distress than a dozen lawyers, fellow council members or professors could, intentionally. That gives you a certain power over her, the ability to manipulate her into providing you with financial, social or even physical concessions. That is what I want you to promise me you won't do and that is what I will be watching you like a hawk to make sure you don't do."

"I promise," Ron had no hesitation. "I won't manipulate her that way."

He then emitted a bitter chuckle.

"What is it that you find so darkly humorous?" Einsam demanded of him.

"This whole sitch...er, situation," Ron shook his head. "You're telling me that I can manipulate a very intelligent, capable and pretty girl, one who could pretty much have her choice of...hot...young men. Almost all my life, I've been the loser, the sidekick, the one who nobody ever remembered."

"Your sort can be the worst or the best," Einsam told him. "When you remember your past, you can either pledge yourself to never treat anyone the way you were, or you can look for revenge. Which sort will you prove to be?"

"The sort who doesn't want to see anyone treated like I was," Ron assured her.

"Good, remember this conviction when you have the opportunity to harm her. Now, be a good boy and see me to the gazebo, then have Kline show you to your rooms. There was a reason I spoke to you while walking outside; you desperately need a shower before spending any sort of time with anyone in a closed environment."

* * *

"So, Mr. Stoppable, do you find your quarters suitable?" Einsam Schnee, seated at the head of the dinner table, addressed her guest. To her right, Weiss looked her companion, who was sitting next to her. Across the table, Whitley observed the interactions, a haughty smile upon his face.

"The quarters are almost as large as the house I grew up in," Ron answered.

"Ah," Whitley chimed in. "I'm afraid my dear mother had no knowledge of your previous social standing. Would you be more comfortable in one of the servants' quarters?"

"I can be comfortable pretty much anywhere," Ron shrugged, managing to keep both his hostess and Weiss from snapping and the younger Schnee.

"Adaptability," Whitley mused. "I suppose that one who faces hardship regularly must develop such a trait."

"And a useful trait it is," Einsam added, a strange expression on her face as she looked at her son.

"Does it extend to your wardrobe?" Whitley asked the guest. "I'm certain that you are more accustomed to...shall we say rough attire."

Ron was wearing something similar to Whitley's normal clothing. While it wasn't superbly tailored, as the boy's was, he had been informed that a tailor was going to meet him tomorrow. Ron suspected that he was going to be looking even more than presentable in the near future.

"Clothes are for what you are doing," Ron shrugged again. "Rough works for fighting the bad guys. What your mother provided works for having dinner with two lovely ladies."

"Well said, Mr. Stoppable," Einsam preempted Whitley from responding. "Did you find the meal acceptable?"

"It was delicious," Ron told her.

"Indeed," Whitley observed. "You had three servings."

"And your sister had two," Einsam pointed out. "The two of them are very active, they need good food to maintain themselves."

"I'm afraid I may become a pest to your chef," Ron took a chance, hoping he could make some polite conversation. "I will probably have to ask for some suggestions and pointers."

"Oh, you cook?" Einsam asked him.

"I'm not on the level of your chef," Ron admitted. "But I can hold my own in a kitchen."

"Don't sell yourself short," Weiss insisted. "You do very well in that regard."

"Oh?" Whitley asked. "Our guest has cooked for you in the past, dear sister?"

"You won't always have five-star chefs, with proper facilities, to prepare your meals," Weiss answered. "Being able to prepare something you don't struggle to put down can be a necessary skill."

"But why wouldn't I have such amenities?" Whitley asked. "I confess to being confused why you insist on pursuing the huntress' lifestyle when you can do so much more, for so many more people, by directing the actions of our company."

"It's honor," Weiss practically growled, while Ron did his best to become invisible...without actually becoming invisible. "I want to share in the hardships and sacrifices, so that all of Atlas knows that Schnees are prepared to stand between the innocent and the aggressor."

"But is that effective, dear sister?" Whitley persisted. "While I understand that you are most formidable, are you more formidable on the battlefield than you are in the boardroom? Instead of one, skilled woman with a rapier, you could have provided weapons and ammunition for numerous soldiers. Is that a proper trade for the people of Atlas? One huntress instead of a battalion of armed soldiers?"

"Very few people can do what I can with the rapier," Weiss snapped back. "While there are dozens who could direct the Schnee Dust Company."

"Are there?" He asked. "While I'll admit that the profits are nowhere near as impressive on your watch as they were when father was running things, you have started to bring a certain reputation back to the company. Will just anyone be able to do so?"

"Are you trying to make a point, Whitley?" Weiss demanded.

"Only if you wish me to do so, dear sister."

"Fine, make it."

"Very well," the boy steepled his hands in front of him. "While father invested a significant amount of money into your martial education, he invested even more in your business education. Like it or not, despite the fact that you are only eighteen years old, you are better prepared to operate the company than are most people twice your age." He offered a smirk. "Case in point, you were most effective in evicting father from his position. I wonder if he now considers the money and effort he invested on your education to be well spent?"

Ron noticed Weiss' hand clench on her fork to the point her pale hand became more so.

"The point I seek to make, dear sister," Whitley continued. "Is to ask if you are being noble or selfish by pursuing your goal of becoming a huntress. You have a head for business and a strong Schnee Dust Company is capable of equipping numerous defenders with proper weaponry and generating vast tax revenues for Atlas. Can you really contribute more by waving your rapier at the enemy?"

"That is a choice that Weiss shall have to make," Einsam informed her son. "For now, she is being a caretaker, maintaining our livelihood while restoring our reputation. I have a question for you, Whitley. Upon reaching eighteen, do you wish to become the CEO and heir of this company?"

Ron noted that Weiss' jaw clenched.

"Of course, mother," Whitley assured the matron. "I have made no secret that I believe it is the best place for me."

"In which case, it is well past the time where I invested more in your education," Einsam informed him. "Starting next week, in addition to your usual studies, you will serve a series of apprenticeships. You will start at a mine. After you have learned about mining, you will move on to a refining center. After that, you will go to a manufacturing plant. By the time you are eighteen, you will have experienced most of the jobs within the Schnee dust company, so you will appreciate them all the more."

"Mother!" He gasped. "This was the point I was trying to make to my dear sister! The time and effort father has already invested into my business education hardly makes it wise to force me to perform manual labor."

"The manual labor will expand your understanding," Einsam countered. "You will have a greater understanding of the effort that goes into what we produce." Seeing that her son wasn't convinced, she continued. "Most importantly for you, you will never become the heir or the CEO unless you go through with this. Should you successfully complete your apprenticeships, I will judge which of my children is most capable of running this company. Should you not do so, you will receive your share of your inheritance, and absolutely no voice in running the company."

"In that case, may I be excused?" He asked. "I...shall have to make sure that my studies are in order if I am to set my books aside and take up other implements."

Einsam gave him a curt nod.

"Sister, Mr. Stoppable," he offered curt nods to the two before turning and striding out of the dining room.

"May I also be excused, mother?" Weiss's voice was coldly formal, but Ron could detect the tension in it.

"I was hoping we could speak about what just transpired here," Einsam told her daughter.

"Perhaps tomorrow would be better," Weiss answered. "I suspect that I won't be capable of pleasant conversation at this moment."

"As you wish, dear," Einsam nodded, somewhat sadly. When Weiss rose and turned to leave, the matron rose to her feet and addressed her. "I have already had one child leave here without a proper farewell for his mother. Will you do the same?"

"Of course not," Weiss murmured, before approaching her mother and offering a short embrace. The younger Schnee quickly exited the dining room, leaving Ron very uncomfortably alone with family matron.

"Er...Mrs. Schnee," he addressed her, nervously. "If I understand my situation here, I'm supposed to be sort of Weiss' sounding board so she doesn't damage something that...isn't as easy to repair."

Einsam's expression was unreadable for the boy.

"Maybe it would be better if I were to speak to her," he continued, his voice trembling a little. "If nothing else, she might want to spar with me just a little...instead of hitting something breakable."

"Perhaps that is wise," Einsam nodded. A slight smile found its way to her face. "Fear not, Mr. Stoppable, I will not request a hug from you before you leave. Simply wishing me a good evening will suffice for proper manners."

"Then that's what I wish you," he offered a slight nod, which his hostess returned, before he exited.

Once Ron left, Einsam Schnee sat back down and wiped a tear from her eye. She sat at the head of the table for a long time, contemplating the empty chairs around it.

* * *

Ron was more than a little nervous as he approached Weiss' door. He had never been all that good at consoling an upset girl. Okay, Kim vented to him all the time but they had been together so long that it was a natural thing. Approaching someone who was upset, in order to make her less upset, wasn't something that he was very good at. Fortunately, he had one piece of information that he thought she'd want to hear.

He hesitated before knocking. He had never seen her room, but judging by the size of his guest room, hers could well be a couple of acres in size. Should he just tap at the door? If he did, she could well be unable to hear it. He wouldn't know if she was ignoring him or simply couldn't hear. Should he pound on the door? If he did, she might think someone very angry was demanding attention, and the rest of the household could very well hear him, as well. Sighing in frustration, he tried for middle ground, the sort of knock you knocked on someone's front door.

"I don't feel like talking to anyone right now," Weiss' muffled voice sounded through the door. "We can speak tomorrow."

"What about going over a scroll message from..." Ron suddenly realized that others might be able to overhear him. "A small, common friend?"

For a few moments, Ron was convinced that Weiss either didn't hear him or was simply ignoring him. He was about to leave for his own room when her door flew open, her hand grabbed him by the front of his jacket and she yanked him inside. He stumbled deeper into her room while she closed the door, his eyes flying wide at the size and the furnishings.

"Wow!" He gasped. "This room is huge! Who ever heard of having a couch in their bedroom?"

"Forget the couch!" She told him. "What have you found out?"

"And a depressed sitting area?" His mouth hung open as he looked over the room. "Most living rooms I've been in don't have that!"

Realizing that words weren't going to be enough, she grabbed his collar and dragged him to her desk.

"Pull out the scroll," she demanded. "What have you found out?"

"Okay," he had to shake his head to refocus his attention. "I'll give you the scroll but do you want some quick answers?"

"Yes!" She forcibly seated him at her desk, then pulled up another chair. By the time she was seated, he had the scroll out and was fumbling for the proper file.

"Okay," he started a file. "The first thing I found out is that your sister has been assigned as a military liaison officer to Mistral. You can see and hear General Ironwood dictating a message to her...here."

For a few minutes, Weiss listened to the general speaking. While the view of his desktop screen wasn't very good, she was able to determine that after dictating a message to 'Captain Schnee', he activated some sort of petition to send it.

"How is he getting the messages to her?" Weiss mused. "With the CCT system down, they're going to have to go via carrier."

"I've been listening in for a couple of days," Ron admitted. "So I have plenty of files. I think he's using some sort of ham radio to communicate with her."

"Ham radio?" Weiss knew that Ron was very food oriented, but this?

"We also called it shortwave radio back at home," he told her. "My friend, Felix, had one. It's low frequency radio, that bounces off of some points in the atmosphere. I think that General Ironwood uses his desktop scroll to dictate and code messages, then it transmits automatically."

She just looked at him with a level gaze.

"You're free to look over all my files," he protested. "If you don't believe me..."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it," she told him. "I'm just glad that Winter is safe."

"I...uh...wouldn't say that," Ron admitted.

"What?" She demanded.

"Something I shouldn't have said," he told her. "Please don't make me say..."

"Ron, this is my sister we're talking about!" She pleaded. "If she's in any danger, I want to know!"

Ron tried to keep his resolve and not talk about the assault rifles and nuclear weapons. He understood the need to avoid panic, to let only those who were hunting for the weapons know how dangerous they were. Then, he looked into her huge eyes and quivering lower lip and that resolve melted away. He grumbled something about the puppy dog pout crossing realities to vex him and explained the nuclear weapons and the assault rifles.

"Okay, you have a lot more questions to answer," she told him.

Ron flinched.

"But first, where are these 'horror-bombs' that you told me about?"

"General Ironwood doesn't seem to know, exactly," he told her. "You know Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren, right?"

She nodded.

"Okay, it seems that Winter had them follow some guy named Torchwick, who had the weapons with him."

"Roman Torchwick?" Weiss demanded. At Ron's nod, she protested, "he was killed at the Battle of Beacon!"

"Apparently not," he answered. "He has one of the nukes stashed in Mistral, somewhere, and took the rifles and the other two nukes out of the kingdom. Team RNJR trailed Torchwick into the swamps, where the rifles were taken south by boat. The team followed the two nukes north, to a port town on the inland lake. They last reported in two weeks ago, saying that they were going to take a ship to follow the one the nukes were on and they wouldn't be able to report in without raising suspicions. I understand that, since the antenna has to be a specific length and you probably can't extend it on a ship without looking very suspicious."

"So Ruby and her friends are chasing after a very tough, very ruthless man who has weapons that you say can level a city in the blink of an eye?" Weiss asked.

"Well, yeah."

"Okay, what's Winter doing?"

She's been assigned to the south of Mistral, apparently to the City of Kuchinashi. It seems that bandit and White Fang activity has been increasing and the folks and Mistral want her to help deal with it. She wasn't able to take her radio set with her, so Ironwood is monitoring for Team RNJR broadcasts."

"Wait a minute, didn't you say that the assault rifles went south from...what was the town's name?" Weiss activated her desktop scroll and called up a search engine.

"Yeah, the name of the first town they visited, where the nukes and the rifles separated, was Sig Su."

"It doesn't show on my map," Weiss reported.

"Okay, they traveled north and the nukes went to the town of...Bataklik Sehri."

"That's on my map," Weiss pointed to a point on the map her scroll projected into the air. "If Sig Su is thirty or so kilometers south of Bataklik Sehri, that puts it...about here. If the rifles were sent thirty-five kilometers south of there, their destination is about here." Weiss put a spot on the projection, then stared at the map.

"There are no towns shown there," she frowned a bit. "Of course, smaller towns can spring up and be overrun without being recognized by the kingdoms, but what else could be there?" She manipulated controls on her desktop scroll. "Known dust deposits...nothing nearby. Other mines...no. Factories, nothing in the area. Established trade routes...hello!"

The two looked at the map. A major trade route swung south of the inland lake, just outside of the swamps, and passed very close to Weiss' hypothetical delivery point for the rifles.

"On that route, you can go straight east, to Kuchinashi," she noted.

"So do you think someone might be trying to get the rifles to the city?" Ron asked.

"It's a possibility," she frowned again. "Of course, they could be getting sent farther to the west, or even to a crossroads and go south. Anyway, what about Team RNJR?"

"From Bataklik Sehri, they traveled north to the town of Kurbaga," Ron reported, reviewing the files.

"That's here on the map," Weiss told him.

"Then they went further north, to the town of Camur Duvari," Ron reported.

"Not shown," Weiss shrugged.

"Then further north, to a place called Derin Su."

"Okay, that one is shown," she told him.

"Their last report said that they were taking a ship, following one that took the nukes," he told her. "According to them, crewmen on the ship carrying the nukes said that they were going to Gozadasi."

"That's the name of both the large island in the west of the inland lake," Weiss reported, after searching on her desktop. "As well as the largest town on the island."

"But why take nukes there?" Ron wondered out loud. "If I wanted to take out kingdoms, I wouldn't set off nukes on an isolated island."

After frowning for a moment, Weiss manipulated her controls again.

"Here are the known ports where ships travel between Gozadasi and other points on the inland lake," she reported. Suddenly her eyes went wide. "Look here, on the northwest inlet! There's a port that trades with Gozadasi and has trade route going over land to another port town on the sea!"

"I'm not seeing the connection," Ron admitted.

"If these nukes are city killers, and there's already one in Mistral City, Torchwick is going to want to put the others in other kingdoms!" She explained. She manipulated her controls again. "That seaport has regular trade with both Vale and Atlas! If Torchwick is tied in with smugglers, he could get the bombs here, Vale and even to Vacuo."

"He could take out three cities, all at once," Ron suddenly understood.

The two sat there for several minutes, wondering if their deductions had anything in common with reality.

"Torchwick is bad news, all by himself," Weiss told her friend. "I think he could handle any member of Team RNJR, one-on-one. He could probably give any two a tough fight. If he has that small girl...Neo...with him, they could give all of Team RNJR a hard time. If Mercury or Emerald are with them, RNJR could be in big trouble."

Ron put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but suddenly tensed up. He suddenly realized that while sitting at the desk, they had squeezed close together. Her petite, athletic body seemed so familiar, so _right_ pressed up against his side that he had almost forgot that he wasn't with...

"So, what can we do about it?" He asked her, removing his hand.

"We need to increase the surveillance on Ironwood's office," she said, after thinking a short time. "Not just the times that he's there. Let's see if we can keep track of his desktop screen at all times. Assuming he leaves it active when he's not around."

"I can do that," Ron told her. "But it's going to take more scrolls and more peanuts."

She just looked at him.

"Okay," he knew a wordless demand for an explanation when he saw it. "Pelz might have overheard me talking about subcontracting and multilevel marketing."

The flat stare continued.

"We talked it over, in case we decided to expand the surveillance network," he admitted. "Pelz talked to some of her family, and she's willing to bring them in on the operation, for a cut of their peanuts for doing the work."

Weiss' gaze never faltered.

"The original scroll you guys got me," he told her. "I disabled its connection to the web. That way, it can't be tracked and Pelz can't be found out. It's really just a recording device that can transfer files via the back-to-back thing. If we can get three more scrolls, and a bunch more peanuts, Pelz will get three of her siblings to take shifts in Ironwood's office. They'll maintain constant watch and return to Pelz to transfer the files to her scroll. Once a day, Pelz will come here and transfer the files to my scroll."

"How is Pelz going to get into the mansion?" Weiss finally spoke, looking highly offended.

"Uh, she already knows how," Ron admitted.

Weiss glare was back in place.

"Her brother kind of lives here already and she pays him a bribe in peanuts to let her come in."

"A bribe?" Weiss asked.

"I guess familial bonds aren't that cordial among rats," Ron shrugged.

"I don't know if I should be impressed or disturbed by all of this," she shook her head. "I can get the scrolls and the peanuts. The scrolls will be a one-time purchase, but how will I explain the constant legume purchases?"

"We could always say that I have a manganese deficiency," Ron suggested. "After all, I'm a refugee, so none of my medical records are available."

"I'll consider it," she admitted. "It's getting late, if we're going to get enough sleep before our morning workout." She got to her feet and saw him to her door. Once the portal was open, she looked to make sure that nobody was watching before tugging him down slightly, standing on her toes and giving him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks for helping me with this."

"Um...yeah...don't mention it," he stammered, turning red as he stumbled off to his room.

Weiss closed the door then leaned against it. Why had she done it? Sure, it felt...nice...to kiss him like that, but a hug or a handshake would have expressed her gratitude just as well. Deciding that she had to get better control on herself, she returned to the desk and studied Anima a little more. Yet, her room seemed somehow cold without another body sitting right next to hers. Finally giving up, she got ready for bed, looking forward to some intense activity before breakfast to improve her mood.

* * *

Once in his quarters, Ron touched the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him. Why did it affect him so much. Okay, waaayyy back when Tara gave him a peck on the cheek at Wannaweep, it had pretty much shorted out his brain functions. That was to be expected, it was the first time a girl had ever kissed him. Even the couple of pecks that Yori had given him hadn't had the effect that Weiss' had. Maybe it was because he missed Kim so bad. After all, she had a similar petite, yet muscular build, to Weiss. That had to be it, he missed Kim and sitting with Weiss had stirred up his feelings.

Now, if he could only convince himself.

Sighing, he noted that it was close to the time he tried to communicate at night. Maybe a little mystical exercise would get his mind off of his yearnings for the female form. Pulling off the overly formal attire, he pulled on a set of pajamas and sat, lotus style, on the floor. It took him longer than usual to clear his mind, as a set of green eyes, that had a disturbing habit of changing to pale blue, kept appearing in his imagination. Finally, he mastered himself enough to send his call to the Lotus Blade.

As always, while the connection was insubstantial, it was a mote more solid than it had been the last time...which was just a bit more solid that the time before that. With contact established, he concentrated on changing its form.

* * *

On a mountaintop, which was somehow both close to and infinitely far from where Ron Stoppable concentrated, a young woman watched an ancient blade. Last night, a caretaker claimed to have seen the blade change its shape several times; with none of the alternate forms being a weapon. Upon hearing this, Yori had sat vigil over the mystic weapon, hoping for a sign from her old friend. Deep in the dark hours of the night, she got her wish.

At first, she only stared at the odd shapes. While she understood the significance of the symbols the previous observer, who did not have the immersion in the English Language and Western Culture that she did, could not have grasped the meaning. Smiling, the ninja pulled a smart phone from her pocket and recorded the blade's alterations. After more than half an hour, it returned to its standard shape and remained ceased changing.

Yori's smile broadened as she hurried to her quarters. While she would have good news to give to Master Sensei when the old man awoke in the morning, she had a more pressing matter to attend to, yet tonight. Once in her room, she called up a site she had last accessed over a year prior, when the Yono threatened the school. She sent her message, using a name and password that a short, overweight genius had given her. Almost immediately, Wade Lode's shocked face appeared on her screen.

It was Yori's supreme honor to tell him the good news and note that he was already making arrangements for Kim Possible to visit Yamanouchi again.

* * *

 _A/N: Thanks for reading, and thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his patient beta services._


	15. Chapter 15

Morning workouts would be much more enjoyable if they were in the afternoon. Weiss couldn't remember where she had heard that little pearl of wisdom, it was probably either Lie Ren or Ron who had said it, but she was agreeing at this moment. Ordinarily, she was energetic; organized and ready to face the day's opportunities and challenges. Today, not so much.

She hadn't slept well the night before. The news that Winter was in Mistral, where one super-weapon was located while two more were missing in the area, didn't lend itself to a restful night. Her mother's words over dinner the previous night hadn't been exactly relaxing, either. Then, there was the goliath in the room. Stretching out, she took a look at Ron and came to the conclusion that he hadn't slept very well, either.

Why did things have to be so complicated?

Still, the morning air was cold and clear; the sort of morning that forced you to either go about the day or just sit and shiver. After the warm up, the two went through some basic forms and drills before running the conditioning course. Of course, they had to shout taunts at each other, driving themselves to greater efforts. With the course run, it was back to sparring again. This time, after a grueling match, she gained the victory; with his left leg immobilized by ice and her rapier tip at his stomach. She was feeling so much better that she actually helped him break out of the ice.

"So, what's on your schedule for today?" She asked him.

"At nine...sorry, zero nine hundred, I'm going with Neon and Flynt on a hit and run," Ron told her. "Our trainer has been working on some cooperative maneuvers and he's having us dropped in one of the towns abandoned during the great war."

Weiss flinched slightly. The old ruins could be dangerous. While most grimm would attack humans on sight, some smarter ones had learned to lay in wait, out of the sight of the airship's guns. This meant that hunters had to go into the ruined buildings to find them and that those found hidden in the ruins, where support couldn't reach, were the most clever and dangerous.

"After that, there will be the after action review, followed by classes on politics and physical therapy. After noon, I have another meeting with Dr. Physiker."

"Oh," Weiss tried to make her voice casual. "Is it going to be another attempt to tune in on your world?"

"Yes," his shoulders slumped. "But she's sure this won't be the last session. It's apparently very difficult to tune in to one reality in infinity, and even after she manages that, she's going to have to find my galaxy in the about two hundred billion or so in my universe. After that, she's going to have to find my sun in the one hundred billion or so in my galaxy." He offered a bitter snort. "A piece of cake."

"How do you know those figures?" She asked him. "I didn't think you were an astronomer."

"I'm not," he told her. "But Mr. Dr. P was a rocket scientist and he quoted those numbers all the time. It sort of grew on me after awhile. What's your day look like?"

"I have my daily board meeting this morning," she told him. "That will take a couple of hours, and I'm going to have both my mother and Whitley attend." She frowned at this. "This one's going to be interesting. The dust trade has opened up again and I'll be hearing testimonials from ships' crewmen, both Atlesian and others, about the attitudes in the kingdoms. I'm sure that as an Atlesian, I'm not going to like what I hear. After that, I'll drop by the operations center. We're going to try to bring the blimp transceiver on line with my fleet. If it works well, I'll generously offer reasonable rates on bandwidth to other shipping interests." She smiled a predatory smile. "I'll even offer to donate bandwidth to the Atlesian government, while hinting at additional policy modifications that benefit the company."

Ron muttered something about her smile looking like Shego's.

"After the communications test, it's the council meeting." She bit her lower lip, her satisfied smile from a moment ago gone.

"What's up?" Ron knew her moods, and knew that she was contemplating something that she found personally distasteful.

"I may need a favor," she told him. For some reason, the word 'favor' seemed to have a strange effect on him, but he gamely nodded. "One of the things we're going to discuss at the council meeting is the travel restrictions."

Ron nodded, understanding that Atlesian citizens needed to apply for a permit to leave the kingdom and return.

"I want them lifted, or at least eased," she explained. "But I'm about to abuse my power as both a council member and the owner of the Schnee Dust Company. I'm going to request a general travel permit for my company airship and I'm sure I'll get it, even if I don't get the restrictions eased for everyone."

"Not seeing the favor," he admitted.

"The two of us, Neon and Flynt already have the general travel permits. Because we're all apprentice hunters, our scrolls have petitions that let us cross the borders, going either direction, with no prior approval needed."

Ron offered a thoughtful nod, his current situation wasn't that different from what he was used to on Earth.

"If I get the permit, it means that I'll have a high-performance, long range airship that simply needs to transmit a request to leave the kingdom at any time," she continued. "It's supposed to allow the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company to rush to wherever the company business needs him or her to be, at any time. I'm going to abuse that concession. I'm worried about Winter, Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Yang, Blake and the nukes. I want to be ready to move if I hear anything about any of them." She dropped her eyes. "I know it's asking a lot, but I'd like you to come with me. We make a great team."

There was silence for a few seconds. Weiss nervously brought her gaze up to look at her companion. Multiple emotions, joy, sorrow, and nervousness seemed to be fighting for broadcast time on his face. Finally...

"That's what we did back home," he murmured. He appeared both happy and sad.

"I'm sorry," she almost sobbed. "I'll..."

"No, I'll do it," he interrupted. Happiness had defeated sorrow on his face. "Running off to do something that the authorities don't have the reason, the clearance or the manpower to tackle; it'll be like old times...almost."

"I'd like you to ask Neon and Flynt," she told him. "When Cinder attacked Beacon, they fought while their teammates left. That broke up their team. I don't think that they would like to be left out...even if it gets them in trouble with Headmaster Ironwood."

"I'll ask them," Ron nodded. "Flynt's going to love being someplace where he can make a difference while Neon will be down to do anything exciting. What about the rest of your day?"

"I've invited General Ironwood over for dinner, after the council meeting," she told him. "I'm worried about him. Our surveillance shows that he's running on coffee and caffeine pills. He doesn't seem to trust anyone enough to delegate important decisions and he seems to see threats to Atlas where none exist. I want to challenge him on this without letting him know that we're spying on him."

"I hate irony," Ron told her. "Somehow, learning that a man's paranoid by spying on him seems to fit the bill."

Weiss rolled her eyes, but she couldn't deny the logic. "We'd better get ready for breakfast," she told him. "I don't want to keep _mother_ waiting."

"Okay, what's the sitch with you and your mom?" He asked. "I thought she had a good idea to put Whitley through apprenticeships, but you got mad."

Weiss paused for a bit, collecting her thoughts. Finally, "Ron, do you think I'm doing a good job as the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company?"

"I'm not the one to ask," he admitted. "I don't know the first thing about running a multinational...or I guess multikingdom...corporation. Still, from what you've told me, while the profits are down, you're still in the black and the reputation is starting to recover."

"It's been difficult and I'm not perfect," she told him, her voice very small. "But how can mother just set me aside like that?"

"I don't see her setting you aside," Ron informed her.

"But she's grooming Whitley!" Weiss protested. "That means that she's not happy with the way I'm running the company!"

"Or it means that she wants him to assist you," Ron countered. "But she knows that he needs some harsh education before he can do it. Or maybe she realizes that you're going to be a huntress, first and foremost, and may not come home some day. I think your sister also has a dangerous job. With your mother's two daughters taking on dangerous tasks, she might realize that she needs to straighten him out so he can take over if he has to."

"Or she never really approved of me being a huntress," Weiss' voice was weak when she said this. "And she doesn't want some wild, untamed girl running the company any longer than necessary. After all, a high-born lady is supposed to sing, dance, decorate and marry a CEO into the family, not do it herself."

"So what if she does think that way?" Ron asked. "Even if you're right, and I don't think that you are, you're twice the CEO that your brother will ever be. Keep doing the job well and force her to see that she's doing wrong by setting you aside." Suddenly, the young man's face broke into a wide smile. "You just might become Remnant's version of the Fearless Ferret."

"The what?"

"The Fearless Ferret," Ron repeated. "He's a television and comic book hero on Earth."

"Is he some kind of faunas?"

"No, we don't have faunas on Earth," Ron chuckled. "He was a rich recluse who put on a costume and fought crime when he wasn't being a high-profile philanthropist."

"And nobody could figure out who he was?" Weiss rolled her eyes. "It sounds like a kids' show!"

"Yeah, It was a show for kids," Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "Aaaaand those who weren't ready to grow up."

"So when was the last time you watched the show," Weiss crossed her arms and fixed him with an intense stare.

"One week before I wound up in Remnant," he admitted. "Okay, I'll admit that I have maturity issues, but it's still a...kind of valid...comparison. Your mother isn't trying to kick you out, she's freeing you! You can still run your company but if the two of you groom your brother into the role, you can just check on him and make sure he's keeping it on track. That will free you up to be the heroine...or the huntress...you want to be!"

"I want to believe that," she sighed. "I want to think that she's helping me but...never mind."

"What?" He prompted.

"It's personal," she told him. "Maybe some later day I'll talk to you about it. I'll have a word with my mother tonight, when it's just the two of us about Whitley. In the meantime, didn't you say you were going to treat us to something from your world."

"The breakfast burrito," Ron smirked, waving his hands like a magician preparing an illusion. "Prepare to be amazed."

* * *

Amazement wasn't always a good thing.

Ron came to that conclusion partway through 'clearing' a section of the abandoned town of Nordwald. Of course, 'clearing' didn't seem to be a good description, as apparently it had been 'cleared' numerous times over the years, Atlas never occupied the town and the grimm always came back. It was more likely that Atlas Academy used 'clearing' as a way of gauging training success. The training they had received must have been good, as the three of them had survived the amazement. The amazement had been the discovery of another form of grimm.

They didn't have a name for the darn things yet, but they looked like black and white mountain lions with bony plates. What was worse, they were smart. The things had learned to hide in ruined buildings and wait to get the drop on anyone foolish enough to investigate. The first encounter had caught the three young people by surprise; they were inside what used to be a grand hotel when four of the grimm jumped on them from a balcony. The hunters-in-training owed their lives to Neon's faunas hearing; she was able to yelp a warning, giving them just enough time to react.

Flynt's sound waves sent two of the creatures flying back to the balcony they had jumped from. Neon managed to dodge out of a third's path while Ron was able to meet his with a powerful blow from his staff. Aura and MMP proved enough to finish the beast with one shot. Neon goaded her opponent into chasing her, right by Ron, who close-lined the dark feline with another blow. Rather than pursue the two creatures that were sent sprawling out of sight, the trio retreated back outside and made some plans.

Those plans were interrupted by the two grimm, with a couple of new friends. Apparently this form was smart enough to set an ambush but not smart enough to realize that the ambush had been blown. Once the fighting started, they attacked. Neon proved to be devastating.

The agile faunas girl dodged and weaved among the demonic felines. While she didn't have a knockout blow, she irritated and enraged the creatures, infuriating them to the point that they would mindlessly pursue her. When that happened, she would quickly find her way back to Flynt and Ron. Flynt took the long range shots, collapsing abandoned buildings behind Neon, crushing grimm in the rubble. Ron took care of the grimm that were, quite literally, right on her tail.

The trio spent three hours fighting grimm in the abandoned city before their instructors declared the mission over. It was a new experience for Ron, who had spent several years being the distraction for Kim. He hated to admit it, but Neon was a much better distraction than he had ever been. In a moment of vanity, he admitted that of the trio, he had the best 'finish the fight' strike.

After returning to Atlas Academy, the trainer allowed the trio a short break for lunch before the after action review. It was during lunch that Ron managed to broach the idea of forming an informal strike team. As he predicted, both Flynt and Neon were completely on board with the idea.

Much to Ron's amazement, he was actually interested in the after action review. After all, these meetings were to ensure that teams managed to complete their missions. Since teams had to remain relatively unscathed in order to do so, it seemed a great idea. Avoiding pain was something he could completely get behind and devote full attention towards. After the review, the trainer explained how he was going to adjust their training in order to enhance strengths and minimize weaknesses. Ron learned that he was going to be concentrating on aura use.

Leaving the conference room, Ron made his way to his next appointment. Right now, very few people knew that he was from a different world. Flynt and Neon thought that he had some odd habits and attitudes, and they had probably made some educated guesses, but he didn't want someone to be able to realize that he was and outsider within minutes of meeting him. For this reason, he was able to pay attention in the political class, learning more about how the kingdoms handled internal affairs and how they interacted with each other.

Much as with the political lecture, he was easily able to pay attention in the physical therapy class. In this case, it was much more personal, as he was learning how to treat the inevitable injuries and strains that an active and often violent life produced. It was also another toehold on his home; back on Earth, he had hoped to pursue this as a career and what he had picked up had allowed him to help KP with her assorted aches and pains.

Somehow, he managed to keep his mind on the lesson while in the classroom. Once released, he allowed memories to bring a smile to his face. He remembered, shortly after graduation, a mission against Adrena Lynn. KP had spent the mission pursuing the villain, first free-running through a city and then rollerblading. The ride back home had been in a cramped sedan, not allowing the redhead to stretch out. As a result, she had been stiff and sore by the time they got back to Middleton.

It had been late and night and the Possibles were still staying with the Stoppables, while their home was being rebuilt. Instead of disturbing the crowded house, the two of them had gone to the tree house. There, Kim had stretched out on the couch while Ron put his fledgling masseur skills to the test. He must have done okay, as she was smiling, with her eyes closed, when he was done. Thinking that she was asleep, he had intended on grabbing an old blanket and laying out on the floor. Instead, she had caught his hand, rolled onto her side and pulled him down to lie next to her on the couch. What had happened next...

Back in the present, he shook his head to clear the very pleasant memory and concentrate on what he needed to do. Much as the first time he found himself on the campus of Atlas Academy, he needed to go to the Administration Building to access the proper elevator that would take him to the lab. However, first he made his way to an infrequently traveled section of the campus and took a seat on a bench near a bush. A few minutes later, rustling in the foliage prompted him to look down and see Pelz peering at him from the branches.

He tied his shoe, which gave him the excuse to receive files from a scroll the rat dragged out. He then handed over a small bag full of peanuts and received an empty bag, in return. Finally, he told Pelz that he would drop off the additional scrolls the next day. Pelz replied with a series of squeaks.

"That wasn't part of our agreement," Ron protested to the rat.

Pelz gave a smug chitter in reply.

"That's gouging me!" Ron growled back. "You should have included that in our agreement!"

The answering trill was triumphant.

"Okay, I'll admit it," he grumbled. "I want the information more than you want the peanuts but this is the last time! I'll pay you what we agreed but from now on, all prices are final! I won't pay for you to charge me additional fees to transport the scrolls from here to your office! The next time, it's going to be up to you to anticipate these expenses and include them in our agreement!"

The squeak that answered his lecture sounded challenging.

"I don't like that kind of attitude, young lady!" He informed her. She rose up onto her hind legs, crossed her forelegs and chittered back in an offended tone.

"I don't care if you're an adult and I don't care how many litters you've had," he growled back. "I've been around for more than five years for every one you've been! Now, you've had your little victory, you've gouged me for more peanuts than we agreed. You'll get them tomorrow but if you try to gouge me again, or if you keep this attitude, you can forget about backgammon night!"

It wasn't easy for beady eyes to open wide, but Pelz managed it. Her squeaking was frantic.

"No, I'm not about to forget that we're friends," Ron informed her. "But I'd like to think that the feelings are mutual. I'll let you know when I can break free and we can get together, fine?"

Her squeak sounded more rational, so Ron got up and made his way to the Administration Building. Once there, he traveled to a very infrequently used section and flashed his scroll at a particular elevator's scanner. Once inside, the elevator took him far below the ground where he boarded a now familiar narrow-gauge train.

All the way to the lab, he reflected on how much better an elevator and a train was than a trap door that suddenly dropped you into a series of subterranean tubes.

Once at the lab's platform he climbed off, idly wondering just how extensive this secret rail system was and how it stacked up against Global Justice's transportation system. The secure doors opened for his scroll and soon he was in a locker room, where he secured his possessions and dressed in the scrubs provided. After that, it was on to the diagnostic room.

"Ah, Mr. Stoppable," Dr. Physiker greeted him. "You are actually a bit early today. No matter, it means that we can start early. Afterwards, I have some issue to discuss with you. Shall we start?"

"I'm ready," he assured the older woman.

As he had before, he climbed into the pod and waited for her to direct him to proceed. Upon being told that all was ready, he concentrated again on changing the Lotus Blade's form. While it wasn't his usual time for manipulating the blade, he continued to change it into the forms he hoped would draw notice and let someone on his world know that he was alive and safe. The minutes dragged by and he grew more and more tired. It had been a rough day and although his contact with the blade was getting better with practice, it was still taxing. Still, every minute he could continue was another minute for the scientists to home in on his universe. Another minute to home in on his world.

Another minute to home in on her.

He was sweating profusely by the time Dr. Physiker called a halt. As she had done before, she directed him to a conference room and provided him with a sports drink while she reviewed some of her findings.

"I have good news," she finally announced. "While we have to re-calibrate the equipment again, I believe that we will be able to home in on your reality during our next session. After that, we will need to home in on your planet."

"How long will that take?" Ron asked, becoming optimistic in spite of himself.

"A week or so to modify the equipment," she told him. "As for finding your world in your universe? I can't give you an accurate estimate."

Ron's shoulders slumped with his disappointment. He had expected an answer something like this. He was tempted to ask if she had any updates on her ability to open a portal he could actually pass through, but remembered that he wasn't supposed to know about those difficulties.

"It isn't easy to be patient, young man," she noted. "But please try to keep your spirits up. Depression won't help matters."

Ron could only nod.

"Now, since you're here, I would like you to explain to me what this..." she consulted her notes. "Fallout, happens to be."

"I'm not a scientist and I'm not military," Ron told her. "But I understand that it's radioactive material from one of these nukes that gets spread around by the explosion."

"Radioactive?" The physicist had a very confused look on her face.

"Well, energized," he told her. "Emitting radiation."

"I still don't understand," she admitted. "What is radiation?"

"X rays and Gamma Rays," he answered, and only received a confused look in return.

"Okay, take UV light," he began, but there was no look of recognition on the doctor's face.

"Well," he was now grasping at straws. "You know what causes sunburns, don't you?"

"What is a sunburn?" She asked him.

"When you stay out in the sun too long and get burnt," he told her, not believing what he was hearing.

"Do you mean when you are exposed to the elements and your skin becomes red?" She was clearly confused.

"No," he shook his head. "Have you ever been on a warm sunny beach?"

"Believe it or not, yes," she offered him a slight smile. "I wasn't always an aging scientist."

"So if you lay out in the sun all day, didn't you get burnt?" He asked. "You know, red, painful skin, maybe even blisters?"

"No," she admitted. "I have never heard of such. I simply became overheated and dehydrated."

Ron couldn't believe it. Dr. Physiker was every bit as pale as him. He wracked his brain for another explanation.

"Let's try talking about light," he attempted. "The color red has the lowest frequency and the color violet has the highest."

"Yes, your knowledge matches ours," the doctor agreed.

"Okay, if you make the frequency even higher than violet, you get ultraviolet..." he explained.

"Or UV," the doctor gasped in understanding.

"And if you keep increasing the frequency, you get what we called X-rays and gamma rays," Ron concluded.

"Young man," she looked like she was on the edge of a breakthrough. "We theorize that our sun produces such high frequency radiation but that it cannot penetrate our atmosphere. Since dust does not function outside of our atmosphere, we are unable to send test equipment beyond our atmosphere to confirm this. Are you telling me that you actually experience this phenomena on your world?"

"Yes," Ron told her. "I wish I knew the exact frequencies I'm talking about, but they can hurt people. Enough ultraviolet light causes the skin to react like it was burned. X-rays and gamma rays can cause cancer."

"That's what fallout is," he tried to explain. "When an atom bomb explodes, it sends out a lot of these X and gamma rays. The metal in the bomb itself, the dirt and rocks in the area, all get charged up with this and scattered. So you have large areas that are radioactive and it makes people sick."

"This is far outside of our experience," the physicist shook her head.

"Could you build something that could detect radiation?" Ron asked her. "I mean, if one of these things goes off, someone will need to know where they have to get people away from."

"Hopefully, they will not go off," she answered. "However, I will consult notes and see what I can find out about the test instruments previous scientists wanted to launch into orbit. Perhaps some diagnostic equipment wouldn't be a bad idea. If there is nothing else, why don't you leave? I will let you know when we are ready for additional monitoring."

Ron walked back to the loading platform, wondering about a world that had perfected robotics and had computer technology as advanced as this, yet still hadn't encountered radiation. Something very odd was going on in this world and he wished that he could speak to either Felix or Wade. But he couldn't. He was on his own and would have to muddle through and hope he could find his way home.

* * *

Weiss Schnee was beginning to understand why her mother used to drink heavily and why her father usually had a belt or two in the evenings. When she was sixteen, she never would have believed that her lessons would be an emotional refuge during the day. The board meeting had been only slightly worse than she expected. While there was some dust trade currently taking place, General Ironwood had placed a strict quota and the commerce wasn't enough to keep her employees employed for very much longer. Her board members were already planning which employees were going to be let go. Of course, they planned on allowing the faunas employees to be hit the hardest. Weiss had stepped in and forced a criteria based strictly upon seniority and merit upon them. Still, everyone was going to feel some pain.

" _Except me,_ " she mused, sitting in her office, which had once belonged to her father. " _I'll still eat fine food, wear the finest clothing and sleep in a bed larger than some of my employees' bedrooms, under fine silks and inside a mansion. But I won't do anything different. Living in some economy home won't help them in the long run._ "

After the board meeting came the communications test. It had started out so well but then...

Her scroll chimed, providing welcome distraction.

"Yes, Kline?" She answered.

"General Ironwood is here, Miss Schnee," the ever efficient servant's voice sounded from the device.

"Show him right in," she instructed.

"As you wish."

While waiting for her guest, Weiss sipped some more coffee and reviewed the items she wanted to discuss with him. She grimaced slightly, while it shouldn't turn as confrontational as the council meeting had been, it wasn't going to be completely cordial.

A polite tap on the door let her know that her time for contemplation was over. She rose to her feet and called for her guest to enter. Kline let the general into her office and departed. James Ironwood offered a polite bow, giving Weiss a chance to study him a little more closely than she had at the council meeting. The bags under his eyes were slightly larger, his five o'clock shadow was more pronounced and there were actually slight wrinkles and a stain on his usually immaculate uniform.

"I've taken the liberty of providing some refreshment," she informed her guest, gesturing to a cart stocked with glasses, ice and a variety of liquors and other beverages.

"My thanks," he told her. He poured himself a shot of scotch before taking his seat. Another clue; usually General Ironwood would have never gotten a beverage for himself without offering her one...despite the fact that she already had a cup of coffee. Ordinarily General Ironwood would never take his seat without being prompted by his hostess.

"I understand you were testing some communications equipment today," he said, by way of starting the conversation. "Would you mind letting me in on a Schnee Dust Company secret and tell me how it went?"

"It was a failure," Weiss admitted.

"So you couldn't communicate with your distant ships," he shrugged.

"Oh, the concept worked fine," she countered. "We had excellent communications...until one of the gas enclosures started to leak and we needed to bring it down before it crashed." She shook her head. "We'll make modifications to the structure and try again. We had the electronics and the concept down, but were defeated by a balloon."

"The important things are always simple," General Ironwood told her, almost sounding like he was reciting a religious verse. "And the simple things are always hard. How long before you can try again?"

"A couple of days," she told him. "With the embargo, a great deal of my manufacturing capacity is sitting idle, I might as well put it to use."

"Miss Schnee," he heaved a sigh. "I know that you are not satisfied with the quotas I have set for export but I can assure you that I am acting as I must to secure Atlas."

"As you believe you need to," Weiss pointed out, deciding that she might as well delve into the unpleasant business. "General, let's be blunt with each other. There is absolutely no evidence that either Mistral or Vacuo are planning any sort of aggressive action towards Atlas. I have no doubt that you have agents in my crews and they've reported the same things that my captains have reported; that commerce is down and all kingdoms are suffering because of this embargo."

"Miss Schnee," his voice had a slight edge to it. "I assure you, like I assured every member of the council, that the quotas I set were based upon rigorous calculation of the military capabilities of both Mistral and Vacuo. The quotas are set to ensure that neither can pose a credible threat to Atlas; nothing more, nothing less."

"General Ironwood," Weiss maintained her calm demeanor. "Mistral is making no effort to attack Atlas and we both know it. Their military forces are dispersed in the southern portion of the kingdom, combating grimm and bandit activity and they are doing it without sufficient dust to arm their soldiers."

"And an eighteen year old girl, who has been on the council for all of six weeks, knows better than Atlesian Military Intelligence what is safe for our kingdom?"

"An eighteen year old girl doesn't," Weiss retorted, through clenched teeth. "But she knows enough to bring in experts to explain the situation to her. I also have agents in Mistral and they report that the Mistralean soldiers are going into the field with incomplete dust loads."

"These are soldiers, general," she continued, forestalling his attempt to interrupt. "Not huntsmen. When they run out of dust, they are forced to use their weapons as clubs. That doesn't do well against their opponents."

"And you are an expert in these matters?" His tone of voice went well beyond condescending.

"I fought at the Battle of Beacon!" She reminded him, her pale eyes boring into his. "I fought grimm, White Fang and our own mechanoids! I saw what happens when soldiers are over matched! Yes, General Ironwood, I saw several of our soldiers killed, saw a close friend of mine lose her arm and lost another friend of mine."

General Ironwood couldn't help but flinch at the thought of Pyrhha Nikos.

"I see that you know more about that than you've let the public know," Weiss noted. "General, it is very clear to me that you are manipulating events, but I'm assuring you that you are wrong to deny the people of Mistral the dust they need to defend themselves. They are experiencing exactly what Vale experienced before the attacks struck."

"And you have no ulterior motive?" He fixed her with a steady gaze.

"I make no secret that my company stands to continue to be profitable by continuing the dust trade, like we did before Vale was attacked," she pointed out. "And with those profits, I'll keep a resentful segment of our population gainfully employed. With those profits, I'll pay taxes that the Atlesian Council can use to fund our defense."

"And if I say no?" He asked.

She heaved a weary sigh. "If you say no, then I will instruct my agents in the other three kingdoms to invest cash reserves I have already sent them and establish manufacturing capabilities outside of Atlas. I will then start to relocate loyal employees to these other facilities, establishing a complete dust trade independent of Atlas."

"I could consider this treason and have you arrested," he pointed out.

"At which point you will need to prove that I broke Atlesean Law," she countered. "Conducting business away from Atlas isn't treason. You'll have a very, very difficult time obtaining a conviction. And it won't do you any good, anyway. The instructions are positive action; the only thing preventing my agents from taking action is my continued instructions not to do so. Should I suddenly fall silent, they will follow their instructions."

Seeing him hesitate, she chose to play her final card.

"General Ironwood," her voice was now small, her manner hesitant. "When was the last time you managed to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep?"

"What does that have to do with the security of Atlas?" He demanded.

"Everything," she told him. "You are the linchpin of Atlas' defense. If you become ineffective, our kingdom will become compromised more than if I were to give away dust to known enemies."

"I am not ineffective," his face had become hard.

"Would you like me to ask Kline to bring in a mirror so that you can examine yourself?" She asked him. "You have let your appearance slide, you're manners have changed and now you're seeing enemies where none exist! Your efforts to thwart these enemies are alienating, compromising trading partners who should be allies!"

"So our situation is now my fault?"

"No! Of course not!" She sounded as indignant as he. "The fall of Beacon and the Battle of Vale weren't your fault. The animosity the other kingdoms have towards us are not your fault, but your actions are making them worse. You deny them dust, which not only makes them vulnerable, it convinces them that we are preparing to attack or, worse yet, simply allow them to fall to the same enemy that overran Beacon. General, you are treating everyone like an enemy, even me! I want to work with you, I want to trust you but you're making it impossible."

"Nobody understands the pressure I'm under," he grumbled. "The responsibilities that are mine and mine alone to meet!"

"They don't need to be yours alone," she insisted. "Yes, general, I'm an eighteen year sitting at the head of the largest company on Remnant. One of the things that I've learned is that you can't do it all! My job continues to be to comb out the best, most trustworthy people in my company, put them to work and monitor their progress. Why can't you do the same? You have good engineers redesigning the Atlesian weapon systems. Let them do their jobs. You have good instructors at the academy, let them do their jobs. You undoubtedly have good people in the other kingdoms, reporting any suspicious activities. Let them do their jobs."

"And what would you have me do in the meantime?" He asked.

"Get some rest, review your operations and devote your time to those areas that most need it," she answered. "Atlas needs you, general, and we need you at your best."

He sat there several minutes.

"Very well," he finally said. "I will remove the restrictions on the dust trade."

"Thank you, general."

"But!" He interrupted her feelings of relief. "If my agents pick up any indications that any of the other three kingdoms are preparing any sort of offensive action against us, the embargo will be immediately re-instated."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," she nodded. "I'm going to make a pledge to you. Currently, my warehouses are stuffed full of refined dust. I will keep them at least ninety percent full, only exporting product as I produce it to replace the exports. That way, if there is any incident, you will have sufficient dust to confiscate for the good of Atlas."

"I would like to point out that, should such an incident occur, your company will receive full compensation." The offered a slight smile.

"I know, general." She returned his smile. Both of their scrolls chimed, interrupting further discussions.

"It would appear that Mr. Stoppable has arrived at your mansion," General Ironwood told her. "With your permission, I would like to have him join us."

"Of course," she nodded.

"In the meantime," his casual tone let her know that this next topic wasn't related to their political situation. "May I assume that your trading fleet will immediately load up on dust and head to Mistral?"

"Only half," she informed him. "The other half will be heading to Vale. While the dust shortage there isn't as severe, the food situation here is getting close to a crisis level."

At his questioning look, she explained. "Atlas doesn't produce enough food to feed itself. We import a great deal from both Vale and Mistral. With the trade limits gone, my ships will be able to bring food back from Vale faster than from Mistral." She smiled at him. "With my employees working and the food prices dropping, I'll help keep this a peaceful kingdom. Now, if I can get my blimp transceiver on line, I'll be able to keep track of my ships while they do this."

"You don't waste time, do you?" The general's face showed admiration.

Any further conversation was interrupted by a discrete knock on the door, followed by Kline opening the portal and announcing that Ron had arrived. The young man the Atlas Academy uniform, and Weiss had to actively suppress an urge to get to her feet and fix his tie, which was just slightly off from center.

"Ron," she said instead. "Please grab a refreshment and have a seat."

"Thanks," he said, and she now saw that he was showing the effects of a long day. "Can I get you anything."

"No," she answered, holding up her coffee cup to indicate she was set. Nodding, he poured himself a cola before taking a seat next to the headmaster.

"I received a report from your trainer," General Ironwood informed him. "While he claims that the three of you proved adaptable and were operating very well as a team, he told me something rather disturbing."

Ron simply favored the man with a curious look.

"He overheard the thee of you talking during your lunch break," Ironwood continued. Now, Ron's eyes opened wide with shock.

"Fortunately for the four of you, I concur," a ghost of a smile showed on the older man's face. Weiss carefully controlled her expression, wondering just what Ron had discussed with the other two.

"I think that it will be very good for the other three kingdoms' impression of Atlas if the four of you take advantage of Miss Schnee's long-range aircraft and look into trouble that her business contacts detect. Seeing four young people from Atlas, one a Schnee and another a faunas, may help lessen the animosity the rest of Remnant has towards Atlas and ease the tensions between human and faunas."

Ron slumped in relief while Weiss continued to control her expressions. She was glad that nothing about finding Winter had been said.

"I'm also pretty sure that the two of you have found some way of spying on me," he continued. "Although I don't know how."

"I suppose you're going to want us to tell you," Weiss sighed.

"No," he answered. "If the countermeasures I can come up with can't detect it, it means that I'm vulnerable to...less friendly factions...spying upon me. Ron, I will be meeting with you during your training tomorrow, according to Dr. Physiker, the two of you had a very interesting discussion today. I'll be reviewing her comments, then I'd like to have a talk with you about it." He rose to his feet, prompting the two young people to do the same. "Later this week, I'd like to have a longer meeting with the two of you."

"We're here now," Weiss pointed out.

"But I'm not prepared with all of the items I wish to cover," he informed her. "Let's not do a partial job at this time."

Any further conversation was interrupted by Kline, who informed them that dinner was ready to be served.

General Ironwood followed the servant, but Ron lagged behind with Weiss for a moment.

"Is the Atlas student uniform suitable for dinner?" He whispered to her. "I haven't had time to change!"

"It will be fine in a moment," she informed him, adjusting his tie. Once she was satisfied with it's alignment, she informed him, "you're presentable now. Let's not keep mother waiting."

The two young adults hurried after General Ironwood, arriving at the dining room shortly after him. Deciding that he should at least attempt to be a gentleman, Ron gestured for Weiss to precede him. She gave him an approving nod before entering the room.

"Ah, so everyone is punctual," Einsam Schnee noted, as Ron entered. "Please, everyone, take your places."

"I must thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Schnee," the general offered a short bow to his hostess.

"It is no trouble at all," the matron assured him. "In fact, it's an honor to have one of Atlas' defenders dine with us."

"And I must thank you for your generosity," Ron decided to add. Ignoring a shocked look from Weiss, he continued. "It is very kind to see to my upkeep while I am in your fine kingdom."

"Again, this is no trouble," Einsam assured him. Weiss gave him a quick wink, letting him know that he had handled himself properly. "I believe we should all look out for those less fortunate and besides, you've been a wonderful companion for my daughter."

"But she's been the wonderful companion for me," Ron protested.

"Ah, you seem to be learning manners," Whitley chimed in. "It's good to see that even the roughest stone can benefit from some polishing."

"That's enough, Whitley," Einsam gently chided her son. "Mr. Stoppable comes from a working class, but he has dedicated himself to a noble goal. Such dedication should be applauded, and even emulated."

She delivered this last remark with a pointed look at her youngest child.

"Indeed, mother," Whitley's tone was properly contrite, but he favored Ron with a measuring look.

"General Ironwood," Einsam continued, drawing attention away from her son's irritation. "I know that you guard secrets for the kingdom, but I hope you can understand a mother's concern. Are you able to tell me anything about Winter?"

"I will say a little," The general answered, sliding back slightly as a serving man set the salad course in front of the diners. "Her current assignment is not secret, although we choose not to broadcast it. She is the military liaison officer to the Kingdom of Mistral, trying to ease tensions between us."

Ron and Weiss caught each others eye across the table. When they had learned this through their spying efforts, they had thought they were being effective. It turns out, they only needed to wait. Weiss then noted that Whitley was looking at the two of them intently, although he tried to disguise his attentions. She reminded herself, again, that there was a potential snake in the house.

"Speaking of other kingdoms," the youngest diner present interrupted. "Ron, perhaps you could tell us where you originate."

"At the general's request, I won't say," Ron told him, glancing at his salad with a disappointed look. He'd much rather use his mouth for eating than for speaking at the moment.

"Well, I doubt you are from Vale," the youngster continued. "You're accent seems wrong. I also seem to recall you saying that my dear sister awakened your aura. I'll be the first to admit that I know little of a soldier's life, but aren't you several years older than when this procedure is usually performed?"

"Er, we don't awaken auras in my homeland," Ron told him, then quickly popped another fork full of greens into his mouth.

"Well, that eliminates all of the kingdoms!" The boy noted. "Perhaps you are from Menagerie. Are you a faunas?"

"No," Ron had to swallow quickly before speaking.

"No details?" Whitley tilted his head slightly, an amused smirk on his lips. "You'll force me to guess by giving me yes or no answers? I'll have you know that I love little games like this! Are you from the dragon continent north of Vacuo?"

"That continent is completely abandoned," General Ironwood interjected, giving Ron a chance to eat some more of his meal. "And I'm afraid that I've asked Mr. Stoppable to not reveal his origin, as certain elements within our society might have difficulty accepting it."

"Oh?"

Whitley now gave Ron a look that reminded the Earthman of Bonnie seeing a rival trip over her own feet.

"So, general, why is it safer to keep him here? Not that I protest of course! But it seems odd, my father and you had several arguments and he's now exiled from his previous position, as well as the mansion. My oldest sister, who is in your service, is now on another continent while my other, dear sister, run's the company and seems to be forming an alliance, of sorts, with you. I'm about to take part in a series of vocational experiences that will not enhance my managerial skills and now a mysterious person, who may have unknown dangers following him, is in this very house."

"Master Whitley," the general's voice wasn't quite as cordial as it had been before. "I am a teacher and a soldier, not a politician. If you have concerns, please voice them."

"Well, _I'm_ merely a child," Whitley placed a hand on his chest to emphasize his sincerity. "Yet, I'm sure you'll appreciate my concern for my family. Our patriarch is now gone, as is the oldest sibling. The middle sibling, just into official adulthood, is making common cause with an agency that the patriarch didn't always have friendly relations with and now an unknown factor is under our very roof. Surely you can see how I could consider my home and future to be very vulnerable."

"And what actions would I need to take to assure you that the Atlesian Military has no intention of dominating the Schnee household?" General Ironwood asked, as the serving man returned to gather up the salad plates.

Although it wasn't proper etiquette, Ron quickly bolted the rest of his salad. The serving man, discreetly noting this, made sure to gather his plate last.

"I fear you have the better of me," Whitley sighed. "I know of no way you could assure me of your good intentions...not that I'm the one that needs to be assured. My dear sister is proving to be an adequate placeholder as the CEO and, of course, my dear mother stands behind her. I'm merely the third in line, depending upon dear sister Winter's status, of course. How would it be possible for me to find myself in a position of authority?"

Despite the distraction of the entree course arriving, Ron could see the tension between the Schnee siblings, their mother and the general. Clearly, the boy was hinting at something but Ron was completely incapable of determining what it was. He wasn't completely idiotic; he knew that Whitley favored his father and that the Schnee matron had only recently gotten off the bottle. Would Whitley try something against Weiss?

Fighting to keep his mouth from watering at the aromas rising from the plate that had just been placed in front of him, Ron forced his mind to consider the implications. He doubted that the boy would try something to physically harm his sister. While Ron didn't understand the legal nuances of this world, he was pretty sure that if any accident were to seriously harm Weiss, suspicion would automatically fall on Whitley. The little snot was far to clever for that, but could he catch Weiss in some sort of scandal?

Perhaps associating with an unsavory outsider?

Ron was perfectly aware that the Atlesians thought themselves a notch or two above the citizens of the other kingdoms; and several notches above those who lived between the kingdoms. Was that why the boy was pressing for his origins? Ron realized that Weiss had taken some actions that some of board members weren't too happy with. If Whitley were to suggest that Weiss had done them due to influences Ron exerted on her, would that be enough for the board to oust her from power?

Whitley chose to say no more, but Ron noted that the boy was observing him from the corner of his eyes. The Earthman forced himself to eat in a gentlemanly fashion, as any sign of being less than civilized could potentially place Weiss in a compromising position. This was more than a little difficult, as the food was well beyond delicious.

Shortly after dessert, Einsam Schnee declared that she felt fatigued. Nobody was about to argue with a matron, and a recovering alcoholic, so it wasn't a social indiscretion for her to retire early. Whitley stated that his studies would need extra attention, since he was going to be taking on apprenticeships soon, and thus excused himself from any sort of evening entertainment. Finally, General Ironwood said that someone had informed him that he wasn't getting enough sleep, and that he would like to turn in early. Deciding that as a permanent guest, it was his job to help his Weiss with her hostess duties, Ron accompanied the two to the front door. Once the general was done, Weiss gave Ron an appraising look.

"Would you like to take a short walk around the grounds, before turning in?" She asked him. The look she gave him told him that he had better agree.

Nodding, he gestured for her to lead the way. Instead, she took his arm and set the pace.

"Whitley's up to something," she stated, once they were clear of the mansion. "I don't know if he or father set up some sort of listening devices in the mansion, but I don't think we should talk about sensitive items while inside."

"Could he be using me?" Ron asked. "I've noticed how Atleseans think a little less of the others on this world and he was probing to find out where I was from. If he thinks...well..."

"That you're having a foreign influence on me?" Weiss asked. "Or that you've seduced me? I guess it adds up to the same thing."

"Well," Ron's free hand found its way to the back of his neck. "It could be used against you. I don't know if the other board members can oust you or not."

"They can," she informed him. "But it has to be almost unanimous and I have enough members who support me that it won't happen...unless he can unleash something devastating. He could still be working with father."

"Maybe we should keep an eye on him," Ron suggested.

"Oh?" The ghost of a smile found its way to her mouth. "Do you have an idea?"

"Yes," he admitted. "But it will cost more peanuts."

* * *

 _As always, thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	16. Chapter 16

While ship travel wasn't easy for a hyperactive teenager who was worried about family and friends, it could be even worse for her companions.

Jaune Arc contemplated the wisdom of his reflections as he stared over the ship's rail at the moonlit water. With the four of them aboard ship, boredom was as constant a companion as his upset stomach. With Ren and Nora always being together and almost inseparable, there was only one outlet for Ruby's excess energy. Jaune welcomed the little bit of solitude he was enjoying at the moment, conveniently close to the rail, in case his motion sickness decided to get worse. He liked Ruby but he was getting a harsh lesson in the fact that anybody could really get on his nerves, given enough time. When the subject in question's semblance was super speed, that grinding process was accelerated.

Looking over the sparkling waves, he took some solace in reflecting on his current mission, as opposed to the constant suggestions and questions that Ruby had been subjecting him to. After their rough night facing the lithobates, they had followed Nora's suggestion and traveled north at first light, passing the teamsters who were going to pick up the devices. Once at the town of Bataklik Sehri, Nora slipped away from the team and struck up a conversation with a stable-hand who was mucking out a stall. A few batted eyelashes later, and the boy told her that the teamsters would be hauling two heavy loads further north, to the town of Kurbaga. The team had stayed in Bataklik Sehri that night, confirming Torchwick's arrival with the devices. After that, they once again headed north at first light. They picked up both good and bad luck upon reaching the town of Kurbaga.

It was an overcast day and a pack of lithobates was harassing the town's docks. The village fishermen were already out in the swamps, so the remaining villagers had put up a warning flag, keeping the fishermen away so that the dark frogs wouldn't attack them in their small, vulnerable boats. Team RNJR quickly swung into action and eliminated the frog-like grimm, allowing the fishermen to return to the docks and offload their catch. The good luck was that this action made the villagers grateful to the young team. The townsfolk, including the man who ran the local teamsters' stable, became talkative. RNJR quickly learned that the teamsters were going to receive two heavy objects from Bataklik Sehri later that day and ship them further north, to a place called Camur Duvari.

The bad luck was that this action made the villagers grateful to the team. Team RNJR was suddenly a group of local celebrities, with the townsfolk remembering their faces and weapons. Roman Torchwick was no fool. If he listened to the local gossip, and he certainly would, he would hear about the petite young woman who wielded a scythe and at least suspect that it was Ruby. If the team stayed in Kurbaga and confirmed Torchwick's arrival, he was sure to ask after them and some helpful villager was sure to point them out to him. Instead of waiting, the team accepted the offer of food for their packs, told the townsfolk that they were off to find more grimm to fight, and hit the trail north, arriving at Camur Duvari at sundown.

Jaune flinched at the memory of Camur Duvari. Shortly after securing rooms at the town's inn, the teens tried to pick up some information. They quickly spotted a teenage girl leaving the inn's kitchen door to dump a basket full of lettuce leaves and vegetable peelings into the nearby teamster's mule pen. Nora had nudged him in the ribs with all of the subtlety of one of Cardin Winchester's mace strikes and told him to go find out some things. He had tried to protest, but his teammates had scattered, leaving him feeling like a fool. Without much choice, he approached the girl and introduced himself as being new in town and asking for her help.

That started out well enough, she was smiling and friendly, willing to provide him with information. Unfortunately, his nervousness about actually trying to trick information from her left him stuttering and babbling about the weather, rather than about the travelers who passed through the inn, grimm in the area and the teamsters whose mules she was feeding. Before long, her expression had changed from open and friendly, to guarded, to suspicious, to downright hostile. The blonde man had managed to realize how badly he was screwing things up, cut his losses and excused himself, to her immense relief, before she yelled for help.

All in all, he rated his first attempt to sweet-talk information from a local girl to be about as suave as his efforts to get Weiss to date him, half as effective and twice as embarrassing.

The awkward exit from the poor girl's presence hadn't been the end of Jaune's troubles. As soon as he got clear of the confused and frightened girl, Nora caught him and gave him and earful.

"All you were trying to do was get some information about the town!" The orange-haired girl had growled at him. "You weren't trying to pry dark secrets out of her! You were just supposed to steer the conversation towards the teamsters and see if she knew about any changes to their schedule! Instead, you started to talk about the weather and if the food was good in the inn. You were acting like you were trying to talk yourself into chopping off her head! What happened to that friendly boy who gave Ruby a hand up after she sneezed a crater into the Beacon Sidewalk?"

"It was the dust!" Ruby had protested, but Nora had ignored her.

"You're not seducing her!" Nora had continued. "You're not doing anything cruel or tricky. Nothing you do is going to harm her in any way. All we want is to find out if the teamsters' schedule has changed without people realizing that we're asking. It's not a state secret so don't act like you're trying to get her to do something that will make her parents disown her! Just enjoy talking to a pretty girl, let her enjoy talking to you, and steer the conversation!"

"I..."

"Now, go into the inn with Ruby," she continued. "Find a table and watch me deal with this!"

Nora had rolled her eyes in disgust before stalking off. Sharing a shrug, he and Ruby had done as instructed. Shortly after they were seated with a meal in front of them, Nora came in, spotted a table of teamsters, and approached them. Soon, she was talking to them like they were all old friends and the men were perfectly happy to talk about the usual dangers they faced, the cargo they carried, the schedule they followed and, most importantly, the changes they had recently experienced. Nora had learned that they were supposed to receive two very heavy loads from Kurbaga the next day, then haul them farther north, to Derin Su. She continued to talk for a few minutes before excusing herself. When she left, the men quickly went back to talking to each other and would probably only remember her as someone who was new to the area and curious about their work.

A shifting in his stomach forced Jaune back to the present. He leaned over the rail, waiting for food he couldn't even remember eating to surge out. Instead, after a few minutes, his stomach decided to settle down and relax. Heaving a sigh of relief, the blonde returned his attention to the moon and stars. His memories came back.

They had spent the night in Camur Duvari, leaving as the sun came up. Once out of direct sight of the town, they unpacked their communication device and transmitted an update to Winter. While the receiving station sent back a confirmation, they did not receive a live response. Shrugging, they split into two teams. Ren and Nora maintained a watch on Camur Duvari while Jaune and Ruby kept watch to the north. At roughly mid-morning, a small caravan of mules, drawing wagons filled with the local catch, left Camur Duvari and headed north. They passed another caravan, hauling manufactured goods and with extra mules, that was approaching the town from the north. Shortly after noon, another caravan, with two very heavily loaded wagons, reached Camur Duvari from the south. Knowing that they were still shadowing the objects, Team RNJR force-marched north to the town of Derin Su.

Derin Su proved to be a very large town built on higher ground that extended into the lake. It actually had extensive farmlands surrounding it and the deeper water allowed larger ships, ones that plied the open waters of the vast lake, to dock. It also boasted an airship port and an extensive commercial district. In addition, it had a well-maintained road leading due east, that eventually reached Mistral City. Apparently, this road was heavily patrolled by Mistralian soldiers.

If Jaune had thought that he would get a break from the new role Nora had decided for him, he had been wrong. They reached Derin Su an hour before sunset. Nora led them by the teamsters' barn, where she spotted a girl brushing down mules. Giving the blonde boy a harsh glare, she sent Ren and Ruby to find rooms and an inn before prodding Jaune towards the girl. Heaving a sigh, Jaune had reviewed topics of conversation that didn't seem creepy and approached the young woman.

To his surprised relief, the lady in question liked the idea of talking while working. He had introduced himself as part of a hunter team and asked first about grimm activity in the area and then if the caravans had problems with the dark creatures. After that, he asked if the caravans ever came under attack and if they hired escorts. While she didn't know if the teamsters were hiring hunters at the time, she knew that they seldom had problems with grimm and did not often hire escorts. As long as the caravans reached a town by nightfall, there was little to worry about the lithobates. Other forms of grimm were very rare in the swamps.

Steering the conversation as best he could, he asked what the caravans hauled. After all, he was new to the area. She told him that the swamps produced fish, clams, prawns, crayfish and wild rice, much of which found its way to Mistral City. Since Derin Su was on high ground, they didn't have direct access to the swamp's produce, but served as a shipping crossroads for smaller communities both to the north and the south. The deep water docks meant that bulk cargo traveling between Mistral City and Gozadasi usually passed through Derin Su. He was about to ask if heavier loads ever came from the swamps when she finished the last mule and volunteered a last bit of information.

She told him that it was pleasant to talk while working and that she would have extra mules to tend to the next day, as a large caravan, hauling a very heavy load, was coming in from the south, tomorrow. Trying to not sound like he was pouncing, he asked if the heavy load would be heading to Mistral City. She didn't know, but since she had been told most of the extra mules would be heading north and south after delivery, she doubted it. She pointed out that while she couldn't say for sure, she thought that the heavy load's destination was either Derin Su or would be taken by ship to Gozadasi.

With that, Jaune had what he wanted. He was about to thank her but he suddenly remembered that Nora talked to the teamsters for a few minutes after she got the information she was looking for. Instead, he asked her what came in from Gozadasi and learned that the island sent large blocks of fine granite and marble, which the artisans in Mistral turned into carvings. With a last piece of information, he thanked her for filling him in on the town, said that he hoped to see her during his short stay and wished her a pleasant evening.

As soon as he left the immediate area and turned a corner, placing himself out of the girl's line of sight, Nora grabbed him for another talk.

"See," she had said. "You weren't doing anything harmful or even morally bankrupt. You were just asking her to tell you things that she didn't mind saying. You don't need to treat that like you're skinning her alive! Now, what did you find out?"

Upon Jaune telling her, she nodded and led him to the docks. Once there, they found shipping schedules posted on a board easily enough and determined that a large lake ship, the Yuk Gemisi, would be arriving from Gozadasi the next morning and would leave a day after that. A thoughtful expression on her face, Nora herded Jaune to the inn where Ren and Ruby had gotten a room, somehow knowing exactly which one it was.

"We're going to work some dockside taverns tonight," Nora told Ruby and Jaune. "The two of you would only look out of place. We'll see you later tonight."

Despite the fact that they were in excellent shape, Ruby and Jaune were both feeling the effects of the recent forced marches, so they were happy to unroll sleeping bags and get some rest. Of course, that was the first moment when Jaune was subjected to how irritating a bored Ruby could be.

In the next couple of hours, Jaune was subjected to her concerns. First she discussed Yang. The blonde boy could understand that; the brawler had lost most of her right arm and had been depressed when Ruby left home. After that, she expressed her concerns for her uncle Qrow. Again, Jaune could understand her concern, as he was traveling across the globe while considerably less that at his best. Then she started to talk about not hearing from either Weiss or Blake. Jaune had a harder time understanding her far-reaching concerns, as neither had been in danger. Of course she would be concerned, but concerned enough to put off precious sleep time?

Then she started to talk about the strategies Team RWBY had employed and her ideas for Team RNJR. Jaune managed to stir a little and pay some attention, but weariness made him unable to really process what she was saying. Finally, after midnight, Ren and Nora returned.

"We can talk in the morning," Nora told them. "We learned some things, but we'll have time then and I'm worn out!"

The two had quickly settled into sleep. Ruby tried to get them to tell her what they had learned, to no avail.

"Ruby, I love you like a sister," Nora finally told the younger teen. "But if you don't quiet down and let me sleep, so help me I'll tie you in your sleeping bag and leave you hanging out of the window until morning."

Despite the intensity of her curiosity, Ruby managed to keep from expressing it until the sun was up.

Nora did the talking the next morning, as Ren was being his usual morning self. "Someone booked passage for two, very heavy objects on the Yuk Gemisi," she told them. "It arrives this morning and will sail for Gozadasi tomorrow. I'm suspecting that's where Torchwick's toys are going."

"So do we book passage on the ship?" Jaune had asked.

"Not a good idea," Nora told him. "It's a cargo ship and has very limited passenger space. We'd have a very good chance of running into Torchwick and we don't want him to see us."

"I take it you have another suggestion," Jaune had commented.

"Another ship, the Yolcu Gemisi, will dock sometime the day after tomorrow," Ren stirred himself to answer. "It will set sail the day after that. It is a lighter vessel and should actually overtake the Yuk. If we book passage on the Yolcu, we will be waiting when the Yuk arrives in port."

"But what if Torchwick hijacks the ship out on the lake?" Ruby asked. "With the CCT system down, there's no communication out on the water, he could grab the ship and take it anywhere he wants."

"That is a possibility," Ren admitted. "But that would mean a great deal of risk on his part. He does not know who will be on that ship so for all he knows, there will be seasoned hunters aboard."

"How long will it take the cargo ship to reach Gozadasi?" Jaune remembered asking.

"Roughly a week on the water," Ren had told him.

"If it has a small passenger compartment, he'll be sure to spot us, won't he?" Jaune had asked.

"Almost certainly."

In the end, the team didn't have much of a choice. They stayed in Derin Su the next day, keeping low. They spotted Torchwick and watched him direct the mule trains to deliver two heavy wagons to the aforementioned ship. The orange-haired criminal stayed on board once his cargo was loaded. The team also watched someone that could have been Emerald patrolling the dock area. The next morning, the Yuk Gemisi pulled away from the dock. With nothing to do until the Yolcu made port, the team left Derin Su and found an isolated location in the farmlands around the town. Once there, they unpacked their communication gear and attempted to report again. After several minutes, the automated communication gear managed to link up with the receiving station and send their report. They received recorded instructions, telling them to continue to follow the devices. Sharing a resigned look, they returned to Derin Su and booked passage on the Yolcu Gemisi the next day.

And that brought Juane back to the present. Sure, the voyage started off well enough...for about two hours. Then his motion sickness kicked in. When he wasn't heaving over the rail he was stuck lying in bed, too weak to crawl away when Ruby unleashed her latest bout of questions and comments. It was only now, the second night on the water, that his stomach had settled enough to stand at the rail and not heave.

He breathed out a sigh, wishing that they had managed enough free time in Mistral City to take care of another detail. He supposed that what they were doing was potentially vital, but it was still lousy timing.

"Hey," a familiar voice sounded behind him. He flinched before turning around, acknowledging that for the last few days, he hadn't been very kind to the girl.

"Hey," he replied, now leaning against the rail and looking at the petite reaper.

He had to smile a little, as the girl was still in disguise, wearing pants and his old hoodie. She still wasn't happy about it and her pout was absolutely adorable.

"Here," she handed him some saltine crackers and a bottle of soda. "They're supposed to help settle your stomach...once you get to the point that you can hold something down."

"How did you learn this?" He asked, gratefully accepting the offering. He actually wanted to try to eat something.

"A couple of the crewmen told me," her grin became predatory. "You seem to have already become a bit of a legend."

"Oh, dust!" He turned back to the rail and hung his head in shame.

"That last one was a joke," she assured him, giving him a pat on the arm. "They've seen it plenty of times before."

"I can only hope," he grumbled.

For a few minutes, the two friends stood at the rail while Jaune managed to coax some of the salty, crunchy crackers and the carbonated liquid into his stomach. Strangely enough, he started to feel a little better.

"Look," Ruby seemed hesitant to speak, but she forged forward. "I know that I haven't been the best of friends lately. I'm sorry if you're upset with me."

"It's not your fault," he whispered back. "I've been tired and seasick, so just breathing would have irritated me. Besides, I didn't manage to get something done in Mistral."

"What's that?"

Jaune took a couple of deep breaths, fortifying himself. She had the right to know, after all.

"I was hoping that the four of us could have looked up...Pyrrha's family," he sobbed as he said it. "I was in Vale when your Uncle Qrow brought you out of the tower. He said that you were the only one he found in there. I guessed what had happened and told Glynda. She tried to account for all students and Pyrrha came up missing."

He wiped away a tear before continuing.

"I'm sure that some of the Haven students spread the word in Mistral, so her family must know that she's dead, but even I didn't know the full story until I got it from you. I was just hoping..."

His throat closed up on him. Ruby placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on his arm again. It took him a few minutes, but he finally managed to keep going.

"I was hoping that the four of us, her teammates and those who were with her at the end, could tell them everything we knew...could tell them that she was a hero to the end."

Sobs took over again and Ruby didn't know how to deal with her friend. Tears found their way down her cheeks, but she couldn't say if they were for Jaune, for Pyrrha, or for both. The two friends stood at the rail for several more minutes, not speaking but taking a bit of comfort in their shared sorrow.

"I..I promise," Ruby found her voice first. "When we're done with this mission, I'll go with you to Mistral and we'll find her family. Even if it's just the two of us, we'll tell them everything, no matter how hard."

Jaune could only nod for the moment but eventually, he regained his composure enough to make a peace offering of his own.

"You were trying to talk to me about plans and tactics earlier," he pointed out. "I wasn't listening. What have you come up with?"

"I don't think you want to hear it right now," she protested, gently.

"Ruby," he sighed. "If I go to the cabin, I'm going to be heaving within a few minutes. If I sit out here alone, I'm going to be thinking of things...that put me in a really bad place. Please, talk to me and see if you can get me thinking about something else."

"Okay," she nodded. "Back when Team RWBY formed, the four of us spent one weekend eating junk food and working out strategies. Then, when we were fighting, we were able to call off code words and we all knew what to do. We also worked out who did what the best, and how to work together."

Jaune simply nodded.

"Okay, here's what I was thinking," she continued. "We start by looking at each one of us, what we can do and where we're all weak."

Jaune got a scowl on his face at this.

"I'm sure you've already done it!" Ruby quickly protested. "But maybe a fresh look, from me, might help. Besides, what else to we have to do right now?"

"You're not wrong," he murmured in response. "So what's your opinion?"

"Me and Nora are the heavy hitters," she began, giving her scythe a fond pat. "We can really dish out the damage with Crescent Rose and Magnhild. The problem is that we have trouble in enclosed rooms or very close quarters."

Jaune nodded.

"Ren is at the other end," she continued. "He's quick and can defend himself really well up close, but he has trouble inflicting damage on armor or large grimm with Stormflower."

"And then there's me," Jaune sighed.

"Yep," she agreed. "You split the middle with attacks. You don't have the single shot capability that Nora and I do, but you can deliver more damage than Ren. You're also capable of fighting in close quarters."

"Very poorly," he interjected.

"Jaune, you've closed the gap!" She told him. "You're getting there! We just need more work on your sparring and more on your use of aura. That brings me to your strength, you're the best defender we have."

"Yeah, I can take a beating while you three are accomplishing something," he grumbled.

"You think defending is nothing?" She glared at him. "Between your shield and your aura, you can shrug off hits that would put any of us other three down. It's time we started to really make use of that."

"So I can be a distraction?"

"No, so you can be a battering ram," she smirked at him.

"What!?" He stared at her. Suddenly, his eyes flew wide. "There's ships lights out on the lake!" He declared.

"Do you think it could be the Yuk Gemisi?" She asked.

"Let's find out," he told her, pulling out his scroll and activating the proper petition. Moments later, a green light showed on the display. "The bugs Winter planted on the devices are out there," he smiled. "We're still on the right track. Now, what's this about turning me into a battering ram?"

She described her ideas to him for over half an hour. At the end of that time, decided to include Ren and Nora. Shaking his head, Jaune Arc reflected that none of the three older teens appreciated just how inventive and clever this girl's tactical mind happened to be. The rest of the trip was spent planning and practicing, keeping Jaune's mind so occupied that he didn't notice how much his seasickness had faded away.

* * *

"Training can be almost as rough as running the Schnee Dust Company," Weiss grumbled, gingerly rolling her shoulders. Ron simply nodded and closed the car's door, allowing the driver to return the vehicle to the garage. He reflected that having a chauffeured vehicle for the drive across the city was very convenient; it allowed Weiss to review reports from the board while allowing him to review his notes and studies. Still, it felt odd to be served like this.

"It was nice that General Ironwood volunteered Flynt and Neon to keep an eye on things while we were in training," he commented. "Does he really think that your father will try something...violent?"

"Father's an enigma," Weiss admitted, leading her companion around the extensive mansion towards the gardens in back. "He seems to play by the rules, but he really pushes the bounds when nobody's looking. I wouldn't put it past him to try to invent a crisis or two for the family and use that to _prove_ that the company's leadership is inadequate."

"That's something I don't understand," Ron admitted. "I thought that the company belonged to your family. Sort of like this mansion. How can the board take it away from you?"

"They can't take it away," she told him. "But if the board generates a unanimous vote of no confidence, they can remove me as the head. If that happens, the family still gets the lion's share of the profits, but my ability to influence the company is...well...substantially reduced."

"So it all comes down to the board members' loyalty?" He asked. "Are they loyal to you or to your father?"

"Most of them are loyal to neither, they're loyal to the company," she sighed. "There's eight members of the board and they get bonuses based upon the company's profitability. Right now, two of them really appreciate that fact that I've taken steps to get our reputation back. They see higher future profits. Another three are loyal to the money and aren't happy that the profits have dropped. They'd like to see me removed. Two more are loyal to my father and want to see him returned while the last one is a bit of a mystery, I don't know what his motivations are."

"So doesn't a stalemate on the board mean that you remain in control?"

"You haven't lived your life in the Atlas upper society," she heaved a sigh. "Atlesians love to put ourselves on a pedestal, thinking that we're the pinnacle of Remnant Civilization. Us upper society members think that we're on a pedestal on top of the pedestal. Because of this, we demand that anyone in a position of authority or influence be the perfect citizen; no dark secrets or outside influences. On the other hand, we love to see the high and mighty brought low by their own doings; our media companies feed on catching such people in affairs, embezzling, taking or offering bribes, you name it."

"That's not that much different from Earth," he shrugged.

"So that's why my position as the head of the Schnee Dust Company isn't as secure as it would appear," she informed him. "It won't take much for even the board members loyal to me to cut that loyalty for the good of the company. I've already got a question mark against me for running away. Attending Atlas Academy, even part time, is a good way to erase that mark."

"So it's all an act to keep control?" Ron was disappointed.

"No, I want to attend classes, train and become a huntress," she assured her companion. "I make my attendance _public_ in order to keep control of the company."

"So that's why you wear your uniform so much," Ron nodded. "If you're seen in public, you want people to see that you're...what's that?"

Now that the two had turned a corner around the main building, they could hear a trumpet playing.

"Flynt!" Weiss gasped, breaking into a sprint. "If he's playing his trumpet..."

Ron was right on her heals, pulling his tonfa from their holder on his back. Myrtenaster was in Weiss' hand as they sprinted through the formal gardens. Ahead of them,they spotted Neon skating into their view, executing a rapid spin while twirling her nunchuks and skating rapidly back out of view. She was wearing her normal, combat attire rather than her uniform. Flynt's music got louder and more jazzy, prompting Weiss and Ron to increase their pace, now vaulting over the ornamental shrubs rather than running around them. The two leaped over the last such obstacle between them and the gazebo to see...

Neon was performing a graceful twirl, spinning one set of her nunchaku over her head while the other set spun at her side. The weapons left a trail of rainbows and the combination of them spinning and her twirling made breathtaking patterns around her. Flynt, who was also wearing what he had when he fought against Weiss in the Vytal Tournament, continued to play a jazzy tune, accompanying her stunning performance. With a final trumpet flourish from Flynt and a sweeping bow from Neon, which wrapped her slender form in swirling colors, the two finished their performance. Einsam Schnee, sitting on a bench outside the gazebo, applauded as she rose to her feet.

"Wonderful!" the matron commented on their performance. "Simply wonderful!" Catching sight of her daughter, she smiled warmly. "Weiss, Ron, please join us."

Once the latest arrivals were close enough, she continued. "Why don't we all be seated? I'll have Kline bring some refreshments." She then looked to Flynt and Neon. "The two of you will join us for dinner, of course? I'll have Treiber give you a ride back to the academy afterwards. I can assure you that my kitchen staff can prepare a meal much better than what you will enjoy there."

"Sure thing, Mrs. S," Flynt agreed, taking the offered seat.

Weiss was surprised that her mother showed no offense at the informal title. She and Ron moved one of the benches slightly, allowing the five to face each other over a small table. Very soon, Kline appeared with a pitcher of lemonade and five glasses.

"I've taken the liberty of inviting Miss Katt and Mr. Coal to dine with us this evening," Einsam informed her servant. "Please be a dear and inform Koch to prepare for two more."

"Of course, madam," the efficient man bowed slightly. "Master Coal, Miss Katt, may I inquire if either of you have any sort of allergies or other factors that may limit which foods you may enjoy?"

"I'm chill with pretty much anything," Flynt declared. "But if it's seafood or dairy, you better make a whole lot of it for Neon."

"Hey!" The faunas protested. "That's profiling and stereotyping a cat faunas!"

"But it _is_ accurate," the trumpet player countered.

"He's not wrong," she admitted, her gaze suddenly on the ground. "The academy served clam chowder one evening and I ate two liters." She suddenly fixed Flynt with a challenging glare. "But I didn't gain one ounce!"

"Of course not, dear," Einsam assured the girl, while Kline departed to see to his duties. "Now, I would like to know why my daughter and her companion decided that vaulting over the shrubbery was preferable to utilizing the sidewalks."

"We heard Flynt's trumpet, mother." Weiss answered. "Then saw Neon in her fighting attire, rather than her uniform. We assumed the worst."

"Not every tune is a fight, Schnee," Flynt informed her. "Sometimes I gotta play just to let the music out, y'know?"

"What good are abilities if you don't enjoy them now and then?" Neon added.

"Their performance was amazing," Einsam added. "Wouldn't the two of you agree?"

"Absolutely," Weiss replied, while Ron nodded his agreement. "But mother, you used to comment that my combat skirt was too short to be worn outside. Neon's attire is certainly more revealing than that."

"I was wrong dear," Einsam admitted to her daughter. "If you found that skirt comfortable, I shouldn't have made such a comment." She sighed. "I only wish that I was as bold as the two of you when I still had my youthful figure."

"What do you mean, Mrs. S?" Flynt asked. "You don't look a day over thirty!"

"I still think you look more like Weiss' sister than her mother," Ron added.

"The two of you are liars," she informed them. "Although you are liars with good intentions. Now that Mr. Coal and Miss Katt were so kind to provide some entertainment, I would like to see some more. Mr. Stoppable, could you demonstrate your capability with your weapons?"

Ron was too nervous to answer; he simply nodded to his benefactor, lurched to his feet and walked to an open space on a lawn. He took a few moments to review the katas that the instructors had taught him. Selecting one, he dropped into his fighting stance and began. The kata started with a series of blocks and strikes with his weapon in staff form.

Back when he first met Team Go, he stated that he had the power of imagination. While it had been a foolish thing to claim at the time, there was something to be said for being able to picture things, clearly, in your head. He used his imagination now, picturing opponents attacking him while he spun, blocked, struck and kicked. This first first set of moves ended with him digging in his feet and spinning the staff so fast that it blurred and generated a powerful gust of wind. He turned a half circle, facing away from his audience, allowing the wind gust to lash some of the ornamental shrubs. He allowed himself a slight twinge of pride at the impressed murmur he heard from his audience.

Under various trainers' often harsh instruction, he had finally gotten the separation down so it flowed with his movements. The next move was to separate the staff into two tonfa, which automatically unfolded the handles. He now unleashed a series of lungenschlag, attacks with a single tonfa while he rushed his imaginary opponents and used the other weapon to generate a gust behind himself, speeding his movements. Then, it was a high leap, this time using both tonfa to generate downward gusts that both boosted him higher into the air and allowed him to hover fifteen feet above the ground.

The finale had him directing the wind gusts to his sides, which allowed him to drop back to the ground while spinning. During the drop, the rejoined the tonfa into a staff and put it into motion, so that by the time he was on the ground again, his weapon formed a spinning mass of metal around him. He finished crouched, with his staff in his right hand and his left arm in a guard position between himself and his audience. Done, he recovered and performed a Japanese style bow, something that always perplexed his Atlesian instructors. His three teammates and Einsam all applauded his performance.

"You're next, Weiss," Einsam instructed her daughter. "I would like to see you exhibit the skills that your father so much didn't want you to develop."

The heiress gave her mother a short, thoughtful look before striding to the same open section of lawn that Ron had just utilized. On the way, she paused to straighten his tie, which had become crooked during his exhibition. Once there, she unsheathed Myrtenaster with a lightning fast move that placed it in a salute position in front of her. Then, she went into her training routine.

Ron had seen it many times before, but he still loved to watch her perform it. It seemed to him that it was like watching a display that was half ballet and half gymnastics...but with a rapier that was always between her and her imaginary opponents. She was graceful, skilled, precise and, he had to admit, very pretty. A couple of minutes into the display, she deviated from what he was used to seeing. Instead of a blinding series of slashes and thrusts, she twirled lightly on the grass, her rapier in held vertically in front of her face, before kneeling and bringing the tip to the turf. Where rapier met the ground, a large, glowing glyph appeared.

The symbol rotated on the ground several times, then the blade of a giant sword emerged, followed by a gauntlet holding hilt. Unaware of his actions, Ron stood, staring open-mouthed as a helm, followed by shoulder armor emerged from the glyph. Flynt seemed just as stunned as him and Neon squelled with delight. Moments later, a large, glowing suit of armor, roughly twenty feet high, stood on the grass before the heiress. Weiss simply stared at the apparition as it dropped to a knee before her, placed the point of the sword to the ground and bowed its head. At this display of obedience, Weiss placed a fond hand upon the lowered helm.

"So you have mastered summoning," Einsam noted, now standing as a gesture of respect for her daughter. "When your sister mastered this skill, Jacques told me that she would soon be leaving the family and that it was time to make you the heiress. I was a fool to listen to him. Instead of being proud of Winter, I considered it a sign that she wasn't fit to head the Schnee Dust Company. I should have been proud of her and told her as much. Instead, I remained silent."

"I can at least say the words to you," the matron continued. "I am proud to call you daughter, and proud to put the future of Schnee Dust company into your hands."

Weiss' already large eyes flew wider. She managed a curt gesture at the giant suit of armor. The apparition vanished, leaving no sign that it had ever been there. Weiss walked to her mother and stood directly in front of her.

"Do you mean it?" She asked the older Schnee. "Do you really want me to run the company...permanently?"

"Of course," Einsam told her. "I should have said so, long ago."

"But having Whitley go through the apprenticeships," Weiss protested. "You weren't planning on replacing me?"

"Of course not," Einsam told her. "You and Winter live dangerous lives, so I have to prepare him in case he needs to take over. I need to educate him to have honor and integrity...to be more like his older sisters."

Weiss raised her arms slightly, not knowing how to proceed. Einsam, on the other hand, didn't feel the same hesitation. She threw her arms around her daughter's shoulders and Weiss immediately returned the embrace. Tears poured from large, pale eyes as the two women truly reconnected. Ron, Neon and Flynt found themselves wiping at their eyes, as well.

The touching moment was cut short by a yelp from Flynt and a squeal of anticipation from Neon. Ron followed their gazes and saw a familiar rat scurrying from under one of the shrubs. Ron dropped to one knee, ignoring a shout of dismay from Einsam, and held out his hand so that the rodent could scamper up his arm, perch on his shoulder and chitter into his ear.

"Someone's sneaking in through the trees just past the tennis court!" He reported a moment later. The blonde boy jumped to his feet and sprinted in that direction, pulling his tonfa from their holder.

"Stay with my mother!" Weiss shouted at Flynt and Neon. The heiress was right on her friend's heels as once again, they vaulted ornamental shrubs and hedges in their haste.

The rat squeaked instructions into Ron's ear as he ran his impromptu steeplechase first to and then through the tennis court. Veering slightly to his right in response to the high-pitched instructions, he spotted a twenty-something man, wearing outlandishly-colored clothing, creeping through the evergreens that bordered the Schnee estate. The man's eyes flew wide when he saw the oncoming blonde, and he turned to flee.

There was a time, early in his sidekick career, that Ron wouldn't have been able to run the man down. There was a longer time, once he had gained his mad running away skills, that he wouldn't have been able to restrain the average adult male once he had caught him. Those days were years in the past. The man only managed a few steps toward a gap in the ornate (but effective) fence before Ron caught him and drove a shoulder into his hips while wrapping his arms around the man.

Thankful that his football coaches had drilled all freshmen in proper tackling technique, Ron slammed the man to the ground. Air rushed out of the intruder's lungs with a gratifying whoosh, prompting Ron to attempt a more secure hold on his prey. Before he could immobilize the man's arms, even before the man could spit out all of the dirt and pine needles that had found their way into his mouth, Weiss was there, holding Myrtenaster's tip close to his face.

"No moves!" She ordered the trespasser. "Just hand over your scroll."

Ron hadn't noticed that the man had the device in his hand. The intruder seemed to think about it, so Ron grabbed his arm and squeezed, using just a hint of mystical monkey power, letting him know what would happen if he chose the wrong course of action. Flinching, the man opened his hand and offered the device to Weiss on his open palm. Still keeping Myrtenaster's point oriented on the man's face, Weiss poked at some petitions with her right hand.

"Look at what we have here," she growled at Ron. "Quite a few pictures of Flynt and Neon entertaining my mother, followed by pictures of first you, then me, performing our exhibitions." She turned her face to the captive. "Now, why would you go to all the trouble of trespassing on these grounds, just to record some pictures?"

The man clamped his jaw shut and just glared at her.

"Perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement," Einsam suggested. The matron, accompanied by Flynt and Neon, had followed at a much more sedate pace. Now that she was approaching, the rat took the opportunity to climb down Ron's arm and sneak off into the foliage.

"As it stands, you will be charged and convicted of trespassing," Einsam told the man. "The police are on the way even as we speak. Since it appears that you gained entrance to my estate via a gap in the fence, you will probably be charged with breaking and entering, as well. Of course, the photos on your scroll will be excellent evidence when you are charged with violating our privacy. However, I will be willing to erase those photos and tell the responding officers that we believe you sneaked onto this property simply to prove that you could...if you tell me the real reason why you did so."

Again, the man was clearly thinking of his options.

"The Atlas police respond very quickly to calls from the upper classes," she pointed out. "So we only have so much time to erase our security footage before they arrive. If you wish to wait for them to collect such evidence before you try to make bargains...that's up to you."

"Okay, I heard that there might be some young folks that the upper crust might consider a little...undesirable...hanging around on this estate," he finally confessed. "I also heard that there would be a gap in the fence and the motion sensors. Once I got my photos, I'd be free to sell them to any tabloid that wanted them, but one particular one would pay better than the others."

"I can just about imagine," Einsam noted. "I have no doubt that this particular tabloid has already been tipped off that Einsam and Weiss Schnee are indulging in exotic and morally questionable entertainment."

"I wouldn't know about that," the man insisted.

"What harm could the pictures do?" Flynt asked. "I mean, it was only some martial arts exhibitions."

"Indeed, young man," Einsam agreed. "But some of the footage on his scroll shows your companion while the rainbow obscured a great deal of her, including all of her clothing. After a bit of editing, the tabloid would undoubtedly use these photos, which suggest that she was nude, to support their article."

"That's just low!" Neon huffed.

"I shall not argue that," Einsam sighed, then utilized her own scroll. "Kline, the police should be at the front gate very shortly. Before you let them in, please review the security footage. I believe that our cameras will show the intruder sneaking onto the estate grounds before a glitch damaged the recordings, leaving a blank space until such time that my daughter and Mr. Stoppable caught him."

"Understood, madame," his voice sounded from the device. "Is anybody injured or in need of any other assistance?"

"No, thank you very much," she informed him. "However, both the perimeter fence and the motion sensors have been compromised near my current location. Please be a dear and contact the proper contractors to perform repairs."

"Right away, madame."

"Very well," she now turned her attention on the intruder. "Shall we make our way to the main gate? I shall be happy to have this man off of my property and into police custody as soon as possible."

Weiss deliberately allowed Ron, leading the intruder with Flynt and Neon close behind, to get ahead of her and her mother. "I can't believe that father would stoop so low as to use the tabloids against us," she sniffed, once they had some privacy to speak.

"I doubt that he did," Einsam sighed. "Your father is no fool and this was clumsy, almost _juvenile_ , don't you think?"

"Whitley?" She gasped.

"It seems likely," Einsam replied, taking her daughter's arm for support. "Your father had no way of knowing that Neon and Flynt were here today. Perhaps Whitley contacted him, but I doubt that Jacques would involve himself in something this foolish. Even if the article were to be published, we could counter it fairly easily with our security camera footage." Suddenly, a smile found its way onto the older woman's face.

"What is it, mother?" Weiss asked.

"The best way to combat innuendo is with openness." She answered. "To prove to all of our social peers that we are not hiding something. To be honest, we were secretive after we outed your father, and we shouldn't have been. I believe that next week we shall host a gala to both celebrate your assumption of the CEO's duties, Whitley's apprenticeship, and announce to Atlas that we are hosting a refugee. We will, of course, invite Miss Katt and Master Coal, as well, for a surprise announcement."

"Surprise?" Weiss asked.

"Allow me my entertainment," Einsam smiled warmly at her daughter. "It's time that we became open and friendly again. When I had apparel made for Mr. Stoppable, I included some formal attire. I believe that you have several formal gowns that would match this attire quite nicely."

"Mother!" She protested. "We're not dating!"

"Of course not," Einsam assured her. "You will simply accompany him for the evening, showing all of Atlas that we have fully welcomed him into our home." She watched her daughter carefully. "Unless, you have someone else that you would rather invite?"

"No," Weiss assured her. "Ron will be fine."

Einsam suddenly frowned.

"What is it, mother?"

"Once the police depart, I wish to have Mr. Stoppable explain how a rat just happened to spot the intruder and somehow convey the knowledge to him," she told her daughter. "I do not know if I'll believe what he tells me, but I would like to hear the story."

* * *

Weiss Schnee heaved a heavy breath as the family chauffeur, Treiber, departed to deliver Neon and Flynt to the academy. Dinner had been an awkward affair, with her and her mother giving Whitley harsh looks while the boy tried to look innocent. Even though Flynt and Neon had changed back into their academy uniforms, apparel that was perfectly suitable for a semi-formal dinner, the boy had looked askance at having two more members of the lower classes, and one of them a faunas, sitting at the family table.

Einsam clearly enjoyed their company. With the two of them added to the conversation, Weiss and Ron had felt more comfortable talking about their activities at the academy and their missions outside the borders. Whitley, of course, found several opportunities to make cutting remarks, just outside the bounds of which the other diners could legitimately take offense. Still, the boy asked to be excused early and Einsam had readily agreed. As soon as he was gone, the matron had asked about the rodent warning system. Ron had admitted to being able to speak to a couple of rats and assured his hostess that they did not come into the actual house. Not wanting to leave the boy to face a grilling on his own, Weiss admitted to funding a minor spy ring, with peanuts.

Rather than be angry about the entire situation, her mother struggled to keep from laughing out loud.

"My conniving son's plans, thwarted by a rat," she tittered. "Mr. Stoppable, I shall have to thank this rodent, personally, when you can arrange a meeting."

"Well, it was kind of cute," Weiss recalled. "If it were to clean up a little more."

"I thought it looked delicious," Neon had commented.

The meeting had become awkward after that.

Fortunately, all of the younger people were looking forward to early mornings the next day, so they weren't able to linger very long, even if Einsam was somewhat disappointed by this. She did, however, warn Neon and Flynt that she was going to hold a gala, formally invited them and assured them that their academy uniforms would be suitable for the occasion. Neon in particular was extremely excited about the party, leaving Weiss to feel a little bit sorry for Flynt on the ride back to school.

Now she watched the car's taillights disappear down the road. She turned to Ron, who had accompanied her to say goodnight to their friends.

"What's on your schedule for tomorrow?" She asked him.

"A little different than usual," he shrugged. The morning is spent here. You?"

"Also a little different than usual," she sighed. "Board meeting and overseeing the next attempt to get the communication dirigible on line in the afternoon. Classes and training in the morning. Trying to refrain from strangling Whitley is scheduled for all day." She took a deep breath. "Thanks for dealing with that intruder today."

"It was the Ron-man's honor to be of service," he tried to joke, bowing to her. She just gave him an odd look.

"Sorry," he murmured in reply. "I forgot how rough this crowd can be. Besides, you could have handled him easily enough."

"True," she agreed. "But it could have played into Whitley's hands."

Now it was Ron's turn to give her an odd look.

"I'm not a very large person," she reminded him. "Oh, I could have skewered him, immobilized him in ice, even pinned him to the ground until the police arrived. All of these things could have seriously injured a person without aura. Maybe that was the little snake's plan all along, that the intruder would be caught and I would put a hurt on him. That could have been some real tabloid fodder. You were able to catch him and restrain him without serious injury, so that really helped take care of a tense situation."

She flinched a little, rubbing a shoulder.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"A workout, followed by an exhibition, followed by learning new levels of low that Whitley's ready to go has left me sore," she told him. Looking at him, she asked. "Would you mind doing your magic on my shoulders again?"

"It would be my honor," he told her. This time, she smiled.

She led him to her room and asked him to take a seat at her desk while she disappeared into her bathroom. He examined a map of Anima, reviewing the path they knew that Team RNJR had followed, for the few minutes it took for her to come out again. When she did, she was wearing her robe over her nightgown. Ron politely turned away as she removed the robe and slipped into bed, covering herself from the mid back down. Once discretely covered, she let him know she was ready.

"The last time, you put me to sleep," she reminded him, as he started to probe at her shoulders and neck to find the tense muscles. "I just thought it would be easier if I were in bed, if it happens again."

Ron didn't reply, but found where she was tense and started to work on the stiff muscles. She soon closed her eyes as he continued to work, relaxing her and making her feel much better. That's when she made the mistake.

She only meant to pat his hand, a gesture of thanks for taking the time to get her so relaxed. However, as soon as her hand touched his, he froze. Turning her head to look at him, she saw a series of emotions show on his face before he turned and walked away from her bed to stand, trembling, facing away from her.

"Ron, what's wrong?" She asked. "What did I do?"

"N...nothing," he answered. "I just...don't think it will be a good idea for me to continue. Sorry."

"No," she told him. "Something's bothering you. We're teammates and partners. We're supposed to help each other."

"I..." he waved his hands helplessly. "I just...I used to..."

"Ron," she said, gently. "Did you used to do this for your fiance?"

He could only nod.

"I'm sorry if it's bringing up bad memories," she apologized.

"No," he protested. "The memories are good...and that's sort of the problem."

She suddenly understood and blushed a little bit.

"Ron," she asked, hoping to diffuse the awkward situation. "You've never told me about her. Please, tell me what Kim was...er...is like."

"I have a picture that I transferred to my scroll," he told her, pulling out the device.

"No," she gently chided him. " _Tell_ me about her."

For a few moments, he collected his thoughts.

"The two of you are so much alike," he finally said. "You're both intelligent, driven. You can dedicate so much energy and focus on achieving your goals. You're both so capable. You also both make occasional sarcastic remarks that really cut deep. She traveled the world, helping people in any way she could, never asking for a reward."

"And you went with her?" Weiss prompted.

"Most of the time," he nodded. "Every once in a great while, when she was busy with something else, I would go instead of her."

She could see the pain in his eyes, the longing.

"That's why I had to stop," he told her. "For a moment there, when you touched my hand it was like..."

He stopped, blushing.

"Well, at least you didn't get confused as to who you were with," she quipped.

" _And a good thing,_ " she thought. " _If you would have kissed me, I honestly don't know if I would have pushed you away or held you tight_."

He snorted a laugh, but it was clear that he wasn't in a cheerful mood.

" _They were engaged,_ " she reminded herself. " _Or would have been. Of course he misses her._ "

"Ron," she finally managed to say. "I want you to know that as the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, I'll fund the research to send you home, no matter how long it takes. You've been a true friend to me, opened my eyes about a few things and have been my sounding board. I won't forget that."

"Thanks," he said. After a couple of minutes, he continued. "I don't think I'd do a very good job with your shoulders tonight. I'm sorry, but maybe I should go to my room."

"That's fine," she nodded. "See you tomorrow morning for the conditioning course run?"

"As always," he assured her. "Good night."

"And yourself."

Ron managed to keep his composure as he walked down the hallway to his rooms. He kept his composure until he had his door closed behind him. Then, he threw himself on the bed and let the tears flow. It already felt like he had been gone a lifetime; how much longer was it going to take before he could go home? It took him several minutes before he regained control of himself. Then, a look of determination came over him.

He got up, removed his uniform and hung it up so it wouldn't wrinkle any more. Clad in boxers, he sat, lotus fashion, on the floor and concentrated on the Lotus Blade again.

* * *

"I can not tell you when or if the blade will change, Possible-san," Yori told the redheaded guest of Yamanouchi. "It does not change every day but on the days it does so, it does sometime between one and four in the morning."

"You know, I could have just parachuted in," Kim complained. "I did that before."

"But the school was in great danger at that time," Yori countered, her tone calm. "It is our tradition that except in times of extreme need, all must climb the mountain to reach the school."

"I know," Kim raised a placating hand. "I'm just worked up over the news. Just what does the blade turn into that has you so amped?"

"I hope that you can see it yourself, this very night," Yori continued to look at the blade. "If not, I have recorded it and will let you see."

"Why not just..." Kim's reply was cut off when she saw the blade changing in front of her. First it formed into the letter K, then a P, then an I, then a heart shape, then a U.

The sequence repeated four more times before the blade returned to its normal shape.

"Yori," Kim asked, after taking a few minutes to compose herself and wipe some tears from her eyes. "Am I correct in believing that Ron is the only one who can make the blade change form?"

"From a distance, correct," Yori told her. "Master Sensei can make the blade alter form, but he must be in physical contact with it to do so."

Kim stared at the sword for several minutes. Finally, she pulled out her Kimmunicator and called Wade.

"I need some work, Wade," she told him. "And I have some news."

"What's the news?" The young genius asked.

"Ron's alive," she answered, now smiling broadly. "I don't know where, but he's alive!"

"Great!" Relief showed on the youngster's face. "So what do you need me to do?"

"First, I'm going to need a ride, ASAP." Kim told him. "Then, I want you to dig up every favor and every dirty little secret we have on anyone. Ron's alive and that means we have a lot of work to do. We're going to find him and bring him back."

"Okay," Wade hadn't heard this determination in Kim's voice for far too long. "So where do you need to go?"

"First, to Drakken's latest home," she informed him. "Then, I'm going to visit Dementor."

* * *

 _A/N: Thanks for reading this little tale._


	17. Chapter 17

"So, Frauleins Possible and Director, why do I find myself on a jet aircraft, flying to I'm not knowing where, still shackled like a prisoner? I'm assuming that it has something to do with the blonde nincompoop who used to accompany Possible on her missions, no?"

Dr. Director's quick hand kept Kim firmly in the seat of the Global Justice transport aircraft. The older woman recognized the frustration and weariness on the younger woman's face. However, she also saw hope and determination. Maybe Dementor didn't recognize it, but for some reason, Kim was now working towards a goal, even if she hadn't chosen to reveal it yet.

"I am talking to you both," Professor Dementor complained. "Has the katze grabbed your tongues or are you too foolish to speak?"

"I'd be a little careful, _professor_ ," Betty Director informed her captive. "This flight appears on no registries and this aircraft officially doesn't exist. At this moment, the German National Police has prepared a report that you managed to escape and have vanished. It will officially be announced in a few more hours. It's very easy to make a man who has already disappeared...disappear."

"Then could you be for telling me why you need me and where we are going?" He asked, not looking particularly intimidated.

"You'll find out soon enough," Kim told him. "Although I'll give you a hint. Yes, it has to do with Ron and you are going to help me get him back from wherever the pan dimensional vortex inducer sent him. If you fail in this, you will disappear for good."

"But what if it's impossible?" The undersized man demanded. "What if he's already dead? Why have you waited this long to do this?"

"If you'll remember," Kim prompted him. "When Global Justice gave you the opportunity to help recover him, you turned them down."

"It was impossible and still is!" He protested. "The pan dimensional vortex inducer was pulled through with him. Without it, we cannot access his destination!" He sported a sly smile. "Besides, the alignment of such a device is extremely precise! When he grabbed it, he most likely knocked it out of calibration! He almost certainly found himself in space and, if by some miracle he wound up on a planet, probably inside solid stone or high up in the atmosphere! I'm sorry, Fraulein Possible, but your sidekick is certainly dead."

He didn't sound particularly apologetic.

Before Dr. Director could stop her, Kim sprang out of her seat and struck the mad scientist sharply across the face. His eyes rolled a couple of times before he stared, amazed, at the young woman.

"I thought Dr. Director told you that you are officially escaped," Kim told him, her voice dripping poisoned honey. "That means that you are not officially here and there will be no checks on your welfare and treatment. From now on, you will refer to my companion as either Ron, Mr. Stoppable or my partner. Calling him buffoon, nincompoop, sidekick or other terms will result in additional...chastisement."

Betty Director had a hard look, but no comment for the younger woman when she returned to her seat. Kim was saved from any lectures by her kimmunicator chiming.

"Go, Wade," she answered.

"I've got everyone you asked for," he told them. "They're all converging at the location now. Everyone should be there by the time you arrive and I've already started the upgrades. Are we somewhere that we can talk?"

"Give me a minute," Kim instructed, before looking at Betty.

"I can watch him, by myself," Dr. Director's eye showed the humor in the situation. Professor Dementor couldn't stand up to her in a one-on-one fight even if he wasn't restrained and shackled to the aircraft.

With a nod, Kim walked to the on-board lavatory. Once inside, she instructed her friend to continue his report.

"Kim, shortly after Ron vanished, I did a review of his financial transactions," the youngster informed her. "In case he...was never coming back, I wanted to make sure that his family got everything that he owned."

Kim nodded. The naco wasn't the only thing that Ron had invented.

"Well, I wouldn't have told you this, but now that I know he's alive, somewhere, I think you should know." Wade hesitated before continuing.

"What?" Kim demanded, after a short time. "Wade, just say it."

"Shortly before he left the U.S., he purchased an engagement ring," Wade blurted out. "His parents didn't find it when they inventoried his dorm room. I...think he had it with him when the two of you went after Dementor."

"Oh!" Kim reacted to the news the same way that she had reacted to hearing the words 'out there, in here' a little over two years previously. "He didn't say anything, but he knew that I had booked a stay for us in the Alps, afterwards. You don't think..."

"There's no way to be sure, since we can't ask him," Wade pointed out. "But after your mission..."

"When we were going to be alone with each other," Kim continued. "He was going to..." She lapsed into silence.

"Well, we just have to make sure that we can find out," Kim stated, her voice now firm and decisive. "That's just something else for me to think of if Dementor starts to make trouble or excuses. I should have come back from that mission with a ring on my finger."

"I take it that you would have said yes," Wade prompted.

"Such an idiot," she shook her head. "What was I doing, going to school on the far side of the world?"

"Education is important, Kim," Wade told her. "You were trying to get the best available."

"Did you go to school out of the country?" She asked him. Of course she knew the answer.

"Well, no," he admitted. "But I wasn't seeking the degrees you were."

"Doesn't matter," she told him. "There were excellent schools to attend right here in the U.S. Or, I should say in the U.S. I'm not there right now."

"I get the idea," Wade assured her. "But it wouldn't have changed anything! You would have still gone up against Dementor and..."

"But he would have had the chance to ask the question," she interrupted. "And I would have had the chance to answer. Thanks to you, I know how serious he was about us. Because I never had the chance to answer, he doesn't know how serious I was...er am."

"At least not yet," Wade added. He hesitated a moment. "Kim, about your plan. We really can't trust Dementor. I'm sure he still has secrets about what he was doing, what he was trading and what his final plans are. I hate to admit it, but when it comes to meta-physics, he's in a league all his own. Nobody else can even really understand the capability that he has developed."

"That's why I'm doing what I am," she told him.

"I know, but it's kind of like forcing a master navigator who hates you to find a way home for you, and having a bunch of people who know what a compass looks like trying to keep him honest."

"Do you have a better plan?" She demanded.

"No," he admitted.

"I wish I did," Kim admitted. "We simply have the hand that we've been dealt."

Fortunately for Kim's nerves, the aircraft was equipped with supersonic capability, so she didn't have to wait terribly long before reaching her destination. Unfortunately for Professor Dementor's nerves, the aircraft was not equipped with vertical landing capability and the destination wasn't conveniently close to a proper airstrip. Instead of taking the time to land at Middleton International Airport and convey their prisoner to his new location via ground transportation, Possible and Director put on parachutes, fitted one onto their protesting prisoner and, over his loud, strenuous and profane objections, jumped out of the aircraft, dragging him with them.

The three landed on a forested mountainside in the Colorado Rockies. Upon securing Dementor, who was trembling on the ground, Kim activated a call from her kimmunicator. Moments later, a hidden door opened into the ground and a familiar, blue-skinned man, with a collar of flower petals, emerged.

"Greetings, Kim Possible," he nodded to the trio. "And Dr. Director. Ah, Professor Dementor, I must say that you look much better now than the last time I saw you."

"The last time you were seeing me was in a cafe over the coffee!" The prisoner ranted. "What is having me look so much better now?"

"You're shackled," Drakken smirked. "Imprisonment agrees with you. If all of you will accompany me, we're just about ready."

"Ready for what!" Dementor demanded, as Dr. Director prodded him into the narrow passageway that the hidden door had revealed. "What am I to be doing here? Where is here? Somebody please talk to me!"

"You'll get your instructions in due time," Drakken snarled at his longtime rival.

Before long, the passageway delivered them to a comfortable set of living quarters, deep inside the mountain. Drakken waved everyone towards some couches and chairs in what appeared to be a standard, middle-class living room. Upon everyone being seated, Shego appeared from deeper in the lair.

"The last of 'em will show up in a few minutes," she reported. "Everyone who has already arrived is just chilling in the assembly area for the moment." She looked Kim up and down. "Princess," she greeted her old nemesis. "College life seems to be treating you pretty well."

"And legitimate work seems to be doing the same for you," Kim replied.

They didn't smile at each other. While they had put aside their animosity, they weren't exactly on friendly terms with each other. Their history had been a little too confrontational for them to go that far.

"You sure you're up to this, Drakken?" Shego asked her employer. "There's going to be a lot of attention in certain circles. A failure here could destroy your reputation."

"And success could cement it," he countered. "There's also a debt to pay."

Shego nodded. While altruism still gave her a headache, she understood debts owed.

"So what is all of this!" Dementor demanded again. Any answer was interrupted by a chime from Shego's smart phone.

"The last have arrived," she announced.

"Excellent," Drakken noted, climbing to his feet. Dr. Director and Kim also climbed to their feet while Shego prodded the prisoner onto his. Drakken led the way down a hallway.

"I had this viewing platform installed back when I was still running 'take over the world' schemes," he explained. "I'll admit to having a bit of an ego and liking to watch my henchmen work from well above them."

"A bit of an ego?" Shego snorted. "More like megalomania."

"We all have our character flaws," he sniffed. "Seeking to overcome them makes us better people."

By now, the party had reached an ornate door.

"Miss Possible," Drakken gestured for Kim to take the lead. "I believe that the assembly is yours."

With no hesitation, Kim opened the door and walked through, finding herself on a balcony, perhaps ten feet wide and extending twenty feet out from the wall, overlooking a vast, underground chamber. The walls were lined with work stations and assembly points. Rather than being crowded with henchmen the floor, perhaps forty feet below her, played host to an unlikely gathering of old foes, friends and casual acquaintances. She pause for a moment upon reaching the end of the balcony.

In one group, her father, brothers and Uncle Slim were catching up. A few feet away, Dr. Renton was in a deep conversation with Justine Flanner and Vivian Porter. Somewhat farther from them, Pop Pop Porter, Oren Door, Paula Pandouty and Senor Senior Senior were deep in conversation with Coco Banana. Not far from them, Motor Ed was describing something, using his usual enthusiasm, to Jack Hench, Big Daddy Brotherson and Senor Senior Junior. Agent Smith and Agent Smith stood along one wall, with Hego and Mego, watching the goings on with unreadable expressions while various henchmen, engineers and technicians scurried about the floor, attaching and installing unrecognizable pieces of power and equipment. Taking a breath, Kim addressed the crowd.

"Welcome everyone," she announced. The balcony's PA system sent her voice throughout the chamber, silencing the low drone of conversation. The assembled guests; the heroes and villains, the scientists and business people, all looked at her.

"I would like to thank each and every one of you for coming here today," she continued. "My good friend, Wade Lode, contacted each of you individually with my request. Let me be clear to everyone here; some of you owe me favors from the past. Some of you have a certain fondness for me and wish to help me in my hour of need. For others, I have uncovered secrets that could be damaging if they become public knowledge. It does not matter why you are here, I hope to unite you in a common cause."

"As some of you know, roughly six months ago, I and my partner investigated the criminal knows as Professor Dementor. He had stolen the pan dimensional vortex inducer, once again, and was using it to trade goods with someone from another reality. In our efforts to stop this trade and recover the inducer, my partner, Ron Stoppable, was pulled through a portal. We had no way of knowing if he were alive or dead."

Several of the audience members started to whisper to each other about this event. Several looked somewhat saddened by the remembered bad news.

"Recently, I learned that he is still alive," she informed the gathering. Kim took particular delight in the sudden joy on her family members' faces. "I will not divulge how I came about this knowledge, but it is undeniable. Ron Stoppable is alive. Unfortunately, I am unable to contact him, in return. We also do not have the pan dimensional vortex inducer and no government or laboratory that I have contacted will admit to its existence, much less attempt to fabricate another one."

This last piece of news was delivered with a glare towards the the agents, who retained bland expressions.

"Since I cannot create a new, pan dimensional vortex inducer, I shall recreate it's effect," she declared to the room. "With that device, we had the ability to cross the barriers between realities, held in a device the size of a large can of soup. While we cannot match the efficiency of the device, we can match the function it created. I have brought in the world's greatest meta-physicist!"

"And what make you think that I shall be for cooperating?" She heard Dementor demand, only to be silenced by Shego's elbow. Not only did the quick blow both silence the mad scientist, it answered his question. Kim wondered if he realized it yet.

"Some of you are leaders in business and finance, and have generously offered to fund this endeavor." Kim continued. "Some of you have shown both a scientific genius and the ability to modify others work...whether or not they wish you to do so."

The last remark was made with a sidelong glance at Drakken. The big, blue man just grinned at her.

"As we don't know how much control we will have over this portal, I have called experts in space navigation and rocketry." Her father puffed up with pride at this. "As some of the work we will be doing will be dangerous to human life, I have called experts in robotics, so we can pursue this goal without endangering ourselves. As what we do may test the limits of legality, I have called some of you who are very good at obtaining things...while avoiding legal entanglements. I have also called in agents of the Federal Government to advise us. Finally, as our efforts here may draw unwanted attention, I have called heroes, super-humans to stand against whomever may seek to make our work their own and to stand against whatever we may uncover as we move forward in this endeavor!"

"Yo, Red!" Motor Ed bellowed from the floor. "Why'd you call me here?"

"According to your cousin," Kim answered the loud man. "Without the PDVI, opening a portal may require a large, mechanical construction that spins at ultra-high RPM." From the corner of her eye, Kim noted that Dementor was giving a Drakken a harsh look.

"Seriously?" The big man grumbled. "You just want me to build some big food processor thing? That's bogus!"

"Can you do it, Eddie?" Drakken stepped to the front of the balcony. "Imagine a stationary vehicle, weighing hundreds of tons, that incorporates multiple layers of nested, spinning bodies, all spinning at a different RPM and on a different plane, but all having the same axis!"

Kim noted that Dementor's eyes had gotten wider. Down on the floor, Justine looked rather pleased with herself.

"That would take some serious support!" Ed mused. "I don't think bearings will handle the multiple direction cross-stresses."

"I was thinking either air cushion or, more likely, electromagnetic suspension," Drakken told him.

"Seriously? You can do that?" Ed now looked amazed.

"No," Drakken admitted. "But I can give a mechanical genius the tools to do it."

"Okay, I'm in on it, seriously," Ed agreed.

"Drakken, you might as well conclude the sales pitch," Kim told her former foe.

"This facility used to me one of my lairs," he announced, as Kim stepped back from the front of the balcony. "It is now one of my legitimate properties, which I was converting into a high technology manufacturing facility. I will now dedicate it, and the zero point energy generator it contains, to creating a device capable of recovering Mr. Stoppable from whatever world currently holds him."

"I must ask a question," one of the Agents Smith called out. "Is this worth the effort? He is only one man, could we be potentially risking our very planet by opening a portal to another world...another reality?"

It was a testament to Drakken's reaction time that he managed to get a restraining hand on Kim's shoulder before she could vault off of the balcony and deliver a very personal chastisement to the federal agent.

"Agent Smith," the blue man addressed the questioner. "Mr. Stoppable was instrumental in defeating the Lowardian Invasion last year. I believe that we owe him a debt for this and making every effort to recover him is definitely covered by this debt."

Kim calmed down slightly.

"If that isn't enough for you, consider this," Drakken gave the man a hard stare. "There seems to be another civilization out there, with whom a criminal was trading and they now have the pan dimensional vortex inducer. From a security standpoint, doesn't it make sense to seek out contact with that civilization and learn their intentions towards us?"

"If THAT isn't enough for you, imagine the leaps we may make in our science due to interacting with this civilization. They clearly have biological knowledge that we don't, if they can produce these creatures they call grimm. Their approach to both chemistry and physics is different, if they utilize these crystals they call dust. Even if their science isn't as advanced as ours, the different perspective that they have could boost ours to greater heights."

Both agents' expressions were unreadable.

"What about commerce?" Martin Smarty chimed in. "If we manage to open a passage to another word, the only link will be in this lair. The host nation will reap billions in tax revenue from the inter-world trade."

"What about the fashion?" Coco Banana demanded. "I have no doubt that the greatest fashion designers on both worlds will be great inspiration to each other! You cannot deny the world this!"

"And pop music!" Senor Senior Jr. added. "Think of the heights to which teenage music can be driven with the sensations of two worlds combining their talents!"

"Be that as it may," Dr. Drakken rolled his eyes slightly at the last two speakers. "If the government of the United States decides that such an endeavor should not take place, we will simply relocate to another political entity. I can probably name twenty nations that would welcome the chance to host this effort...as well as gain control of the technological exchange and gain the revenues of taxing inter-dimensional commerce."

"Neither of us can speak for the government," Agent Smith pointed out.

"So we can't promise that this will be approved," Agent Smith added.

"But we'll report honestly on what you're planning."

"Good," Kim added. "Way back when, the two of you managed to release 'Ron's Big Day' to the public. I'd hate for a certain film that he actually recorded to find its way into the public domain."

"We don't respond well to threats, Miss Possible." Agent Smith informed her, his voice low and slow.

"And I don't care for the threat of someone stopping me from rescuing Ron!" She snapped back. "The two of us stepped up and did a lot of dirty jobs for your agency. Now, all I ask is that you allow me to get him back home. I even went so far as to let you know what I was doing and invited you to observe, yet you're threatening to stop me?"

"Miss Possible, neither of us is in position to grant permission for you to open a gateway between dimensions."

"I checked the law on that," Kim smirked at him. "There is no law requiring any sort of license or permit to open such a portal. Like my colleague said, if your agency chooses to hinder or forbid my activities, we can easily move to another nation."

"Give us twenty-four hours to let you know," the agent told her.

"Fair enough," she nodded.

"In the meantime," Drakken announced. "We can get started on initial assembly and planning. Some of my employees are now distributing schedules and other information to you. I have furnished small, spartan quarters for everyone, but most of you won't need to be here for much of the time. These schedules will let you know who we need, when, for the ramp up phase. I also want us to exchange contact information, as I'm sure we will be making breakthroughs and facing disappointments as we work. Now, look on page two and you'll find the device that Miss Flanner's theory states will work, although she admits that we will need significant experimentation to turn her theories into reality! I have also taken the liberty of assigning all parties into teams, based upon your areas of expertise. I'd like Red team to meet over along the south wall to go over the initial fabrication..."

Kim admitted to herself that Drakken was in his element, so she was content to let him run things for the moment. She stepped back and watched, in a sort of surprised admiration, as he proved to have some impressive organizational skills.

"So princess," Shego told her. "What's my part? I'm not a hero, a nerdlinger, a craftsman or a financial guru. What do I do?"

"You have the most important job," Kim admitted to her.

"And what's that?" Shego seemed honestly curious.

"For all the brain trust we have out on the floor, we're really just working blindly," Kim told her former nemesis. "It's going to be up to one man to make everything work."

Kim and Shego both looked at the undersized physicist, who looked back at them both nervously and with pride.

"Still not understanding my part," Shego admitted.

"Your job is to make sure he gives us his best effort," Kim told her, with an icy smile toward Dementor. "That's a skill you've shown in the past."

"Pumpkin," Shego drawled, pulling out a file and sharpening her claws. "I think I'm going to like this little venture."

* * *

Yang had come to the conclusion that she should have planned things out a little better for her first solo trip between kingdoms. Back on Patch, it seemed so simple; all she had to do was get to Mistral City and she'd catch a scroll signal from Ruby. She'd help her sister finish whatever it was the younger girl was doing, then they'd go back home. Of course, dad would be back by then, so they could just get on with their lives.

Wrong.

The only thing that had really gone right had been the voyage to Windpath. Once she unloaded Bumblebee from at the docks, things had started to go wrong for her. While she had heard that people from Mistral tended to be welcoming of outsiders, her experience had been the opposite. The passenger ship docked at the same time that a large, Schnee trader was offloading. Mistralian soldiers were all over the place, guarding what appeared to be a dust shipment while civilians watched every crate being transferred from ship to rail car like cats watching birds through a window. All roads leading from the docks were blocked off during the transfer, so Yang had been forced to wait until the freight train was on its way. While she was waiting, she tried talking to the locals. It didn't go as well as she expected.

Yang knew that she was pretty and used it to her advantage when chatting people up. Instead of young men volunteering information, she got hard looks and curt answers. It wasn't until close to a half hour of frustration had gone by that she realized people were glaring at her arm.

Her robotic arm, being clearly of Atlesian manufacture.

Deciding to make a change, she ducked into an alley, pulled her jacket sleeve farther down so that it covered the appendage and kept her artificial hand stiff, like it was a crude prosthetic. She then worked her way farther down the docks, closer to the dust unloading operation. Now she had more luck, introducing herself as a Beacon Student who was traveling to Haven Academy. That got the locals' mouths to open up a little more, and she learned that dust was incredibly scarce in Mistral and that she was observing one of the first shipments of dust after an embargo lasting several months.

"It's those Atlesians," most of the locals said. "They crippled Vale and we're next on their list. There's troubles down south with bandits and grimm, but they cut off our dust supply. Now they give us just a little, enough to make us think that they're not getting ready to invade, but we know better. They're probably behind the bandits, just like they were behind the White Fang at Vale. They'll let us use up all our dust fighting bandits, then they'll move in and crush us, as well."

Once the train was on its way, Yang visited some of the shops in the area and discovered that there was no dust to be bought, anywhere. Fortunately, she had refueled her motorcycle before leaving Vale and it was good for a few thousand kilometers before she would have to find more dust for that purpose. Deciding that she needed to get to the capital, and Ruby, as soon as possible, she started Bumblebee and hit the highway.

There was enough local signal for her scroll's navigation petition to function, so she didn't have any trouble getting to the main city. Once there, she found more suspicion. She had to go through a checkpoint to get into the city, and the inspectors quickly noted her Atlesian arm. They clearly didn't believe her story of being a Beacon Student who was looking for her younger sister. While they didn't deny her entry, they would only allow her to enter the capital if they loaded a tracking petition on her scroll. She ground her teeth at this intrusion but allowed it to take place. She needed to find her sister and she knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to let her temper flair.

Once safely in the city, she attempted to contact her sister but got no response. She then tried to call Jaune, Ren and Nora, to the same effect. Realizing that something was wrong, she found a parking garage a couple of kilometers from the academy and paid for two weeks of storage. Before she left, she drained Bumblebee's fuel chamber of dust and carried the fuel with her. She then found a nearby inn and decided to see how desperate the locals really were for dust. When the innkeeper asked her how long she was going to stay, she showed two ounces of dust powder and asked how much time it would buy for her.

"Two weeks," the innkeeper stated, staring at the substance.

"Four weeks," she countered. "And I want breakfast and laundry service, as well."

"Deal," he said, and seized the dust.

Yang realized two things; first, dust really was at a premium and second, she could have cut a better deal. She shrugged, chalking the encounter up as a learning experience, and made her way to the academy. There, she found another disappointment.

She didn't finish wading through the administration's bureaucracy before they closed for the day. She was waiting in line at opening time the next day and made her request, once again. Finally, just before noon, she found her way to the person with access to Headmaster Lionheart's scheduling record and learned that some three weeks previously, Ruby, Jaune, Ren and Nora had a short appointment with the headmaster. Another two hours of wading through the bureaucracy and she learned that the team had not enrolled at the academy, although their names were on a waiting list.

Now she was desperate. Struggling to keep control of her temper, she stormed out of the Administration Building, found a relatively quiet section of campus and made a mass call to everyone on her contact list, trying to get an answer from anyone. For several minutes, she struggled to keep some sort of composure. Then, she caught some luck.

She received and answer from Neptune.

"Yang?" His welcome voice came over the phone. "What are you doing in Mistral? Are you in trouble?"

"It's Ruby!" Yang almost wailed in response. "She's missing!"

"And she came here?" He sounded confused.

"Yes! And she met with the headmaster and there's no record of what happened to her after that!"

"Okay," he now sounded firm. "I should be able to help you with this. Go straight west, off of the campus. You'll find a little coffee shop called Artistic Blends. I'll meet you there in twenty minutes."

"Thanks, Neptune," She relaxed just a little.

Taking a deep breath, she followed his instructions and soon found herself in a moderately crowded establishment. She grabbed a decaf for herself and realized that she had no idea how Neptune took his coffee. Sipping at her drink, she tried to convince herself that there was nothing wrong and that her sister was fine. Still, she was on edge and ready to scream when the front door opened and a familiar, blue-haired young man entered the shop.

"Neptune!" Yang leapt to her feet to greet her friend.

"Yang," he approached quickly and shared a quick, rushed hug to greet her. "What's this about Ruby?"

Yang quickly explained Ruby's desire, after the Battle of Beacon, to travel to Haven to look for answers.

"She left in the winter," Yang concluded. "With Jaune, Nora and Ren. Uncle Qrow made it back to Patch and said that she was fine, down south of the lake. Now I find out that they made it here about three weeks ago, visited the headmaster and vanished."

"Let me see the date she met the headmaster," Neptune requested. When she did so, he continued. "I've been working as a junior police officer, supplementing the full time police, so I have a little extra access to police databases." He manipulated some more controls before nodding. "Okay, I've started a search. Why did they walk all the way across Anima? They could have just taken a ship to Windpath and saved a lot of effort."

"I think Uncle Qrow was behind it," she told him. "He managed to draw out some guy who was working for whoever it was that was behind Beacon and Vale, and somehow put my father on the guy's trail. By the way, I think it should be my treat for coffee. How do you take yours?"

"Black," he answered. "Dealing with cops all day does that to you." His attention was now fixed on his scroll screen.

By the time Yang returned to her table with a cup for him, and a second for herself, he had managed to learn something.

"Two days before they met with the headmaster, they entered the kingdom at a port of entry down south," he told Yang, accepting the coffee with a nod of thanks. "They showed up during a bandit raid that later brought on a grimm attack. The leader of the soldiers guarding the fort, Lieutenant Arvaken, added a note that their team was of great assistance in driving off both the bandits and the grimm. After that, it seems that Ruby's scroll had a petition that identified her as conducting business for the headmasters. They took a train from the port of entry to the city and met with the headmaster the day after arriving."

"What does that mean?" Yang asked him.

"It means that they impressed the border guards before coming here," he shrugged. "Also, there is no record of them passing through one of the exit ports."

"So they're still in the city?" Yang asked him.

"Not necessarily," Neptune admitted. "A lot of people come into the kingdom nice and legally. You need to do so in order to conduct business. But our border is very porous; if you know what you're doing, you can leave, then re-enter, without anyone being officially the wiser."

His scroll emitted a chime, prompting him to look at it, again.

"Okay, a couple of hours after their meeting time with Lionheart, Ruby accessed a job board and looked at a couple of offers. She didn't apply to them."

"Does _that_ mean anything?" Yang asked.

"Not necessarily," Neptune repeated, then he sighed. "Yang, Mistraleans like to do things under the counter. If you're looking to hire a hunter team, a lot of people like to post jobs then watch the boards and hire hunters directly, without the records that scroll use would leave...even for legitimate jobs."

"So where does that leave me?" She demanded.

"I can put in a missing person report," he offered, and started to type away at his scroll. "This will generate a face recognition scan for her through the city camera archives...but that could take several days."

"And in the meantime?" Yang demanded.

"Yang, I'll keep my eyes open and I'll have Sage and Scarlet do the same. If we find her, we'll be sure to let you know. However, we're only going to be in the city for another week or so."

"Why?" A combination of frustration and confusion was never good for Yang...or those around her.

"Look," Neptune gave a quick, meaningful glance around the shop. "Maybe we can get out on the street, move and look while we're talking."

Yang took the hint and nodded. The blue-haired young man dropped a couple of lien in the tip jar before leading the way outside.

"Mistral is on edge right now," he told her, as they weave their way down a busy street.

"I know," she told him. "No dust to be found, bandit raids in the south and everybody's convinced that Atlas is about to invade."

"That's only the cover," he sighed in return. "Headmaster Lionheart; he's acting weird."

Yang just quirked an eye at him.

"When we got back, Sage, Scarlet and me all told everyone that Atlas didn't attack Vale. We were there, we stood side-by-side with Atlesian soldiers as they fought their own mechs. We saw how roughed up Ironwood was, we saw that he was fighting to protect people."

Yang just nodded.

"Well, all of us who fought at Beacon were saying the same thing. Then Headmaster Lionheart called us all into a meeting with him and told us that we were just confusing people by insisting that someone, maybe from Mistral, had created this huge conspiracy. He told us that the populace would be better served by having simple answers, like Atlas flexing its muscle."

"You've got to be kidding," Yang stopped and glared at him, fists on her hips.

"We couldn't believe it, either," he replied, gesturing for her to continue walking. "Most of us complained and said that we weren't going to stop telling the truth. Then he told us that there would be consequences if we kept confusing people. The next week, I had a failing grade on a quiz I knew I aced. When the professor gave me the grade, well, his expression said everything."

"What happened next?"

"I took the hint and took the rest of the semester off for a work study with the city police," he shrugged. Sage and Scarlet did the same so that we could stick together."

"Wait!" Yang interrupted. "What about Sun? Isn't he sticking with you, as well?"

"He went off after Blake, shortly after your uncle took you and Ruby back to Patch," he shook his head. "We haven't heard from him since. Anyway, we got out of Haven in time, some of the other students kept trying to speak up and the headmaster gave them choice; either be expelled from Haven or take an internship program up at the northern border. There's no pay and hardly any action up there, so most of them that took the internship have dropped out and hoped to re-enroll next semester."

"What are you getting at?" She demanded.

After a quick glance around, he drew her into a dust shop's storefront, knowing the establishment wouldn't be seeing much business. "Back when you guys wound up on that train that breached Vale, it was the students that really held the line until Glynda sealed up the breach. Sure, the Altesians helped, but it was the students that did the most." His head slumped. "Okay, me and Sun didn't do much, but it was you, Team JNPR and Team CVFY that kept things in check. Right now, there's no dust to be found in Mistral, kind of like Vale was. Headmaster Lionheart has pushed funding through the council to pay hunters to go on long, search missions across the continent. Most of the soldiers are down south, dealing with bandit attacks while most of the students are up north. Other than police and a few, intimidated students, there isn't much fighting power in Mistral City."

"You think that Headmaster Lionheart is setting Vale up for something?" Yang stood, open mouthed.

"It sure seems that way," he told her. "Most people don't realize it. I only know because some of the veterans on the police force have friends on the council."

"Okay, there's something fishy going on," Yang told him. "But what does it have to do with Ruby?"

"The council has set up additional jobs for students," he told her. "Something that Lionheart didn't agree with. They're hiring students to supplement the soldiers down south. The jobs aren't posted on mission boards, they're passed word-of-mouth by officials, that way Lionheart can't track who took them up on the offer. The pay is okay, you actually get some of the little bit of dust to be found and you'll gain experience and a reputation. Me, Sage and Scarlet are heading down there. That's why we're only going to be in town for another week."

"Neptune..." Yang's temper was starting to flare again.

"What I'm trying to say, is if I were those four and I didn't get the answers I needed from Lionheart, I'd be heading down south, where the pay and the dust was to be found. Not only that, they impressed one of the local leaders."

"That's a pretty flimsy lead," she told him.

"Why don't I make you this deal," he offered. "Stay here for a week. You can look all over the city, as much as you want. The three of us will ask the other detectives and see if the query I put into the system generates anything. At the end of the week, come down south with us and look some more. If she isn't there, you can still come back."

"And maybe the lieutenant has something more to say," Yang agreed. "I need to think about it a little, but it sounds like as good a plan as any."

"I've got to get back on shift," Neptune told her. "Mind if I look you up afterwards?"

"I'd like that," she sighed. "I'm glad you were here to help me."

"Hey, Ruby's my friend, to." He sighed. "I don't have so many that I can lose any. By the way, welcome to Mistral."

* * *

Weiss realized that there might be something to be said for working from the same building you lived in. In a change of their usual schedule, she attended morning classes at the academy while Ron kept an eye on things at the mansion. Now she was arriving home, allowing Ron to catch afternoon classes. As the car pulled though the gate and stopped, the young man actually opened the door for her.

"Anything to report?" She asked, taking the opportunity to check the fit of his uniform and adjust his tie slightly.

"Well, your chief engineer is waiting in your office. He wanted to report on your dirigible test."

"He's not supposed to be here for another two hours!" Weiss protested.

"Well, considering the huge smile on his face, I'd say the news was good and he wanted to get it to you right away," Ron shrugged.

"Anything else?"

"Your mother spent most of the morning meeting with people and setting up the gala affair," he grimaced. "As well as running me through some formal waltzes. As much as she claims that she's out of shape, that woman can dance my legs off. She's in the garden now, relaxing a little."

"If there isn't anything else I'll let you get to the school," she told him.

She still didn't understand why he insisted on smacking palms when they traded off like this, nor did she understand why he said 'Pain King takes the ring'. It was one of his idiosyncrasies and it was more amusing than annoying. Shaking her head slightly, she decided that her engineer could wait until she had paid her respects to her mother. Weiss actually skipped a little as she hurried around the house to Einsam's usual afternoon haunt in the garden. She stopped cold when she saw the matron of the Schnee Family.

While seeing her mother outside the gazebo, in the warm sunshine was becoming more common. Seeing her with her scroll projecting cards onto the table was a first. Also, sitting across the table from Einsam was a rat. Weiss stalked closer to the spectacle for a better look.

"Pelz?" She gasped, upon getting close enough to see clearly.

"No, dear," Einsam corrected her. "Pelz is a _girl_. This is her twin brother, Unscharf."

"Mother," the younger woman asked, upon examining the virtual cards. "Why are you spending the afternoon playing poker with a rat?"

"Because he cheats at pinochle," Einsam informed her daughter. "Unscharf, I would like to concede this hand and speak with my daughter now."

Weiss didn't understand how a rat could convey an expression of disappointment, but the small fellow managed it.

"We can play again at this time tomorrow," Einsam assured the rodent, handing him a very small, silk bag that Weiss assumed held peanuts.

Unscharf's expression became more upbeat. He took the bag in his mouth, hopped onto one of the unoccupied chairs and scampered under a nearby hedge, where he vanished. Weiss shook the image out of her mind and took a seat...other than the one the rat used to leave the table.

"How did your day go, mother?" She asked. While the elder Schnee counted peanuts into a larger bag.

"Very well, thank you," Einsam told her. "I have all but a few details of the gala covered, I taught Ron some proper dancing and despite conceding the last hand to Unscharf, I'm fifteen peanuts up in our wagering."

"Do you really think that this gala is a good idea?"

"I'm not looking forward to it," Einsam admitted. "But yes, I think that it's a good idea, even necessary. I have no doubt that your brother was behind the intruder the other day. Think of how vulnerable we have left ourselves to rumor and hearsay. In less than half a year, you return from the Battle of Beacon, are then disowned as the Schnee Heiress, then you vanish, then you reappear and take control of the company. After that, you bring a mysterious young man into the mansion. If the two of us socialized more, I'm sure we would be hearing rumors that would make our blood boil."

"So we let these people into our home, so they can pick up more tidbits?"

"No," the matron shook her head firmly. "We let them in so that they can see we have nothing to hide. We speak with them, joke with them, let them tell us their concerns to that we can address them. We let them see that I am coming off of the bottle and we let them see that Ronald is a friendly young man, not a monster. Most importantly, we let them see what an intelligent, focused young woman you have become."

"It's not so the young upper class men can check me out?" Weiss asked, her voice held a little bit of an edge."

"I'll admit to doing such things in the past," Einsam sighed with regret. "I had hoped to find you a proper match among the upper class, so I kept pushing you and the acceptable young men together, hoping something would develop. I'm not doing so at this time."

"I've noticed that you've encouraged me to spend time with Ron," the younger daughter pointed out.

"That's different," Einsam insisted. "I've noticed that you smile a great deal when you're with him. You seem to enjoy yourself and revel in your hard-earned skills. I'll admit to taking great satisfaction in seeing you happy."

"You aren't trying to get us..." Weiss left the statement hanging.

"That will be entirely up to the two of you," Einsam informed her. "Should the two of you continue these mutually supportive interactions or should you try to delve deeper, I will not try to influence you. I'm obviously not an expert in such matters, although I would hope that you would seek my advise, anyway."

"He has someone back at his home," Weiss informed her mother. "Someone...very special to him."

"He told me as much, when I pressed him," Einsam nodded. "I suspect that having him show us where his home is located will be somewhat more complicated that simply pointing to a spot on a map."

"That's the truth," Weiss sighed.

"Weiss, I can only suggest that you determine what you wish to do with your life and determine if he enhances or detracts from this goal."

"He's already suggested that I date other guys," the heiress told her mother. "He's concerned that someone might think that he's having an undue influence on me."

"Is he?" Her mother asked.

"No!" She insisted.

"I note that you do not have an alternate escort for the gala."

"I don't really have time for...romance," Weiss shrugged. "I'm running the company and taking additional classes...including classes that will help me run the company more effectively."

"But simply asking a young man to accompany you?"

"You know how the tongues start wagging," Weiss sighed. "If I show up with a young man from one of the prominent families, it's going to suggest a greater relationship. It wouldn't be fair to the boy to let him think that I have a certain interest in him...when I don't."

"Yet you asked Ron to accompany you." Einsam prompted.

"He's...different."

"That's an understatement," Einsam noted the irritated scowl on her daughter's face.

"No insult intended," the matron assured her daughter.

The angry retort that was prepared to leap from Weiss's mouth halted when she considered that the presence of two rodent-based spy rings validated her mother's statement.

"Now, what is on your schedule for this afternoon?"

"My chief engineer is waiting in my office," Weiss told her. "I guess he's trying to flout his power by not waiting for the board meeting, two hours from now. I'm letting him wait for me."

"Or he may have news that you need to hear before the board meeting," Einsam countered. "Why don't you go see what he wants? If it is trivial, let him know your view of your employees taking such actions. If it is useful, let him know you appreciate it."

"Wise advise, mother," Weiss nodded. "I will see you after the meeting, of course?"

"Of course," Einsam assured her. "Now, please take your leave of me properly."

Smiling, Weiss got to her feet and embraced her mother before walking briskly, but not hurriedly, to her office."

"Mr. Forscher," she greeted the man, who sprang to his feet when she entered. "Please be kind enough to let me know what requires my attention some hours before the scheduled board meeting."

"Miss Schnee," he offered a slight bow. His nervous manner reminded Weiss that he came from the lower classes; his father had been a solid miner who advanced up the ranks enough to afford to send this man to an engineering college, where he had excelled. "I wish to report that the dirigible communicator test went extremely well and the device has been on line and running for several hours now. This brings up some...intriguing...possibilities for utilization by the remainder of your company."

"Oh, what makes you think that my marketing department hasn't already investigated these possibilities?" She kept her expression neutral.

"Because this department didn't realize how successful the test was," the answered. "And they're thinking of selling the bandwidth, not using the bandwidth to sell other things."

"Okay, I'm interested." Weiss admitted. "What are your ideas."

"Well, if we don't bother to send video over the channel, we save a great deal of bandwidth," he told her, activating a projection from his scroll. "This frees up the ability to send raw data, such as our products' stocking levels at any wholesaler, worldwide, not to mention the status of every shipping method you own. Here's a hypothetical situation in which Vale were to suddenly consume a great deal of dust." He now started a presentation. "See how, using the data link, we can quickly project the shortage and divert shipments to Vacuo. We can even make sure that the ships delivering the dust will have cargo to load once they reach Vale."

"That's not much different than operations before Beacon Tower went off line," Weiss protested.

"The towers have much greater bandwidth capability," he reminded her. "We were so spoiled by this greater bandwidth that we became fixated on video transmissions. If we do that, we don't get the data that we need to react swiftly to the changing market demands. By degrading a little, using raw data rather than video, we can maintain our responsiveness to your customers."

"What about news coverage?" She asked. "I want to allow people in the each of the four kingdoms to see what's happening in the other three."

"We can still provide it, to a limited extent," he fidgeted a little. "We can sell video-capable bandwidth at set or off-use times, allowing us to maintain our data links. Local media organizations will be able to record local shows, send them via our link, then have another company broadcast them locally, in a different kingdom. It's not all that fast, but news will cross the kingdoms' borders."

Weiss thought about it for a moment.

"We'll enhance our ability to supply our customers, first," she decided. "The slow flow of news is better than what's happening at the moment. What else are you working on?"

* * *

"And so, by utilizing our new dirigible link for data, rather than video, we'll regain our ability to react to the dynamic marketplace," Weiss informed the board. "We will will also be able to sell what bandwidth remains to inter-kingdom news outlets, as well as our own Atlesian government."

Most of the board nodded their agreement, but Weiss wasn't finished.

"It was Mr. Forscher who brought this idea of utilization to my attention," she pointed out, to his embarrassed appreciation. "He has also insisted that we construct additional dirigibles. The budgetary requirements are coming up on your scrolls at this time. After any discussions, I am prepared to sign the order."

"Is the intent to increase the bandwidth, and thus our profits?" The head of marketing asked.

"Mr. Forscher?" Weiss indicated that he should answer.

"While the newer units may have some minor increases in bandwidth, that's not the intent," the engineer explained. "We are also unable to tandem a pair of these units, although we continue to investigate this. No, the intent is to increase our reliability. I want to have a total of three available. That will allow us to have one on standby, one down for maintenance and upgrading, while we have one active."

"This will also require trained crews," Weiss pointed out. "The costs are included in the figures."

"It's a serious expenditure," the chief of finance commented. "But it has the potential to pay off."

"I'd like to give us more exposure," the chief of marketing added. "This could give us some powerful, positive publicity."

"So I take it the two of you approve?" Weiss asked.

Both men nodded. In the end, the board was split with six members voting to produce additional units (two were reluctant), one member opposing and the last one abstaining. With a satisfied smile, Weiss issued the fabrication order. After that, it was a long discussion about dust shipments, refining and manufacturing. The chief of finance wanted her to increase the profit margins on dust sales in Mistral while the chief of marketing insisted that the good will generated by maintaining her current margins would pay off over time. In the end, the profit margins were maintained, even if the price would go up slightly to pay for the increased security costs.

The final topic was the inter-kingdom tensions and what the Schnee Dust Company could do to ease them. It was a heated discussion, that broke down into flat out arguments before it was over. Four of the board members wanted the company to discretely increase tensions, and thus the demand for dust. The other four wanted tensions to ease, thus increasing the long-term demand for peaceful applications of dust. In the end, Weiss wound up snapping at the four who wanted the world to be tense.

"I fought at Beacon," she snapped at them. "I saw what tensions can turn into! If you want the Schnee Dust Company to strive for a violent world, you had best see about voting me out of this office!" With that, she put her full support behind the efforts to ease tensions.

After the meeting was adjourned, she reminded all of the board members, now her guests, of the gala her mother was hosting in a few days. As the last of the members filed out, she slumped into the chair and massaged her temples. How could anyone want a war between kingdoms when the world was full of violent grimm? Wondering what sort of background and experiences could result in that mindset, she checked her scroll and realized that she had just enough time to freshen up a little before dinner.

The meal proved to be trying, with Whitley's cutting remarks and the knowledge that he was spying on her, trying to find a weakness he could exploit. Still, the little snake would be leaving for his first apprenticeship in the morning, so Weiss found she could endure him with more grace than usual. Of course, her increased tolerance prompted a glimmer in his eye. She wondered if she was playing into his hands.

After dinner her mother, who had a long day planning the gala as well as reviewing the board meeting on video, stated that she was tired and was looking forward to an early morning. Not quite ready to turn in, Weiss asked Ron if he would mine taking a walk in the gardens as a way of winding down. The young man agreed and soon the two were walking through the dimly lit flowers and hedges.

"Frustrated?" He asked, after a few minutes' stroll.

"Is it obvious?" She asked.

"Not really," he admitted. "What's up?"

"The board meetings," she sighed. "Some of the members just can't seem to realize what's happening in the world and how the Schnee Dust Company can affect things. Some of them can't see beyond the profits and even those that do are only looking at future returns."

"So they're just in it for the money?" He asked.

"Not really," she shrugged. "They're in it for the company, striving for what's best for it, not what's best for Remnant." She shook her head. "The sad truth is, I need them to think that way. With them, I'll have a strong company backing my...more charitable...ideals. Without them, the company would go bankrupt and not do anyone any good." A pause, "it doesn't make it any easier in the board room."

"So, it's easier to be kind than to be smart?"

"Exactly," she nodded. "And that difference between the two is measured in stress, headaches and frustration."

"So, what are your ideas?" He asked.

"Well, I'm following the engineer's suggestions for utilizing the dirigible and building more. That should both help the company and Remnant as a whole. I'm going to prioritize shipments of dust to Mistral, even if the profits aren't as great as shipping to Vale or Vacuo. I want the good folk from Mistral to have the dust they need, as well as have them interacting with Atlesians. Maybe we can cut the tensions between the kingdoms. I'm also going to bring the non-Schnee trading ships that are carrying my products in on the data link."

"No secrets?" Ron asked.

"No," she shook her head. "No _important_ secrets. I want everyone who does business with the Schnee Dust Company know that I value them, that we value them."

"How has the labor unrest been?" He asked.

"A lot better, now that everyone's working again and food prices have started to drop. Maybe the reforms I've started are helping...I don't know, it's going to take time to see how that will work out. There's been an awful lot of time for resentment, _valid resentment_ , to build up and it's not going to go away overnight."

"But you'll never get there if you never start," Ron suggested.

"That's the truth." She placed her hands at the small of her back and arched, giving a slight sigh of relief when her lower back popped. "But it's still frustrating dealing with everything. I can see why father started drinking."

"Hey, you have your physical activity as an outlet," Ron protested. "Do you need a sparring match to help you relax?"

"I could use one," she told him. "But I think we need to concentrate on something else."

By now, their course had returned them to the open lawns near Einsam's gazebo. Weiss pulled her scroll out of a pouch and manipulated some controls. Satisfied, she set the device on one of the tables and walked onto an open lawn, gesturing for Ron to join her.

"We're going to be attending the gala in a few days," she reminded him. "And you are going to be my companion for the evening. Maybe it would be best if we made sure we are synchronized on the dance floor."

"Very well, my lady," he made a shallow bow and extended a hand.

"Play audio," she called to the scroll, before tracing a slight curtsy and placing her hand in his. Moments later, the scroll started playing a formal waltz.

Einsam had been working with Ron, showing him the proper steps and rhythms, but he still had to adjust. For one thing, Einsam was considerably taller than her petite, younger daughter. For another thing, she was right-handed as opposed to her daughter's being left handed. The movements weren't exactly the same, yet both easily adjusted after a little bit of awkwardness.

The scroll couldn't produce the full sound that even a professional sound system, much less a live band, could deliver. Yet, the lawn was soft and the broken moon bathed it in a silvery light. They danced around the lawn, losing themselves in the music and the moment. Happy, Weiss allowed her head to rest on Ron's shoulder and for a few minutes, she wasn't Weiss Schnee, the young woman struggling to operate the world's largest company during difficult times. For a few minutes he wasn't Ron Stoppable, a lost young man hoping to find his way home. She was a young woman, enjoying a dance with a friendly young man and he was a young man, enjoying a dance with a pretty young woman.

Unnoticed, three sets of eyes watched them from the manner. One set of eyes changed color several times but the face that held them smiled at the scene. One set of eyes was pale blue and looked from a slightly wrinkled face which also smiled, seeing the young woman set her cares aside for a time. The last set of eyes, also pale blue, looked from a much younger face, which took on an expression of cynical appraisal.

* * *

 _A/N: Again, my thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, for beta reading._


	18. Chapter 18

Sometimes, you can actually catch a break.

Jaune Arc considered this, wondering if he was being too much of an optimist as he sat in the common room of a Gozadasi inn, relishing some delicious fish chowder with his friends. Sure, a storm was lashing the sturdy inn and the seas were running high, but Team RNJR was warm and dry, and they now had more friends to help them.

As soon as the Yolcu Gemisi made port in Gozadasi, Ren and Nora started talking to the longshoremen, seeking to find if any of them knew about arrangements to offload very heavy loads from the Yuk Gemisi. During their search, they came across an old friend; a fellow orphan they knew before they had been accepted by Sanctum Academy. Jaune was amazed when Ren actually showed shock upon seeing the big man, but the two quickly embraced each other with wide smiles and a few tears. Nora came rushing up and Jaune snickered when she left his welcoming hug breathless. It was a rare person who could out-hug the cheerful girl. Kapici quickly directed them to an inexpensive, yet clean inn, listened to them describe what they felt appropriate to discuss about their mission and promised to meet them later, when his shift was over.

While the inn's furnishings were mismatched, they were clean and well maintained. The food wasn't exciting, but it was hearty and filling; just the thing to dine on while listening to Ren and Nora explain how they knew Kapici. While the two were still close-mouthed about their life as orphans, they were willing to admit that Kapici was one of a group of such unfortunate children that they had lived with, looking out for each other. About the time that the duo were accepted to Sanctum, Kapici, who was growing into a very large, strong young man, found that he could make a living by performing manual labor. Apparently, following jobs eventually took him to Gozadasi.

Jaune's reflections were interrupted by the big man himself arriving at the inn. Kapici shrugged off a heavy rain slicker and hung it near the door, looked around the common room to locate Team RNJR, then joined them, bellowing for the serving man to bring him a double serving of chowder and bread. The longshoreman was clearly known, and liked, in this inn, as the serving man simply smiled on his way to the kitchen to comply.

"Nothing like cold rain to make hot food taste better!" The big man declared, sitting between Ren and Ruby. "I didn't catch your names, but friends of Nora and Ren's are friends of mine! How do you like to be called?"

"Jaune, Jaune Arc," the blonde introduced himself. Kapici took the proffered hand and Jaune decided that he might be moonlighting as a blacksmith.

"And you?" He asked the diminutive girl next to him.

"Ruby Rose," the two shook hands, with Kapici clearly reigning in his strength while the tiny hand was in his own.

"I can tell by the calluses on your hands that the four of you must live a hard life," he noted. He then smiled and pointed at Ren. "Nora, have you managed to drag this lout to an altar yet?"

Both Nora and Ren blushed.

"Ah, not yet, I see," Kapici chuckled. "Ren was always book-smart but somehow lacking in wits! So, we didn't have a lot of time to talk on the docks. I take it that the two of you made it through Sanctum."

"And we enrolled in Beacon," Nora told him, her voice subdued.

"Oh," Kapici went silent out of respect, and maintained that silence while his dinner was delivered. "A sad story, even though I'm sure we aren't hearing the full truth of it here." The punctuated the statement by digging into his meal.

"It was our home," Nora told him, her voice conveying the tragedy of an orphan losing a home. "And we're trying to stop it from happening again."

"I'm no fighter," Kapici told them, looking around to make sure that nobody was close enough to overhear. "But I have friends on the docks and in the other trades. The Yuk is due in the day after tomorrow and someone has arranged for extra longshoremen to haul some heavier loads to a warehouse by the west gate."

"Is there any way you could arrange to be part of that crew?" Ruby asked him.

"Not without raising suspicions," he told her. "It's another band who'll be taking that one. I was lucky to find out what I did."

"And we appreciate it," Ren interrupted. "How should we go about finding out where these loads will go next?"

"By shutting your mouth and listening," Kapici's wide grin belayed his harsh words. "I've already spoken to some teamsters. They're expecting to pick up a heavy load, consisting of two large crates, three days from now. They're supposed to drop it off at an abandoned quarry, in the mountains, before continuing on to deliver tools and food to an active quarry not too far away."

"Are there any other ports, capable of handling very heavy loads, on the island?" Ren asked him.

"Not that I know about," Kapici shrugged. "And I know them all. Oh, there are plenty of local fishing docks and such, but the Yuk only calls on Gozadasi when she stops at this island."

"So whatever those things are, they're staying on this island...at least for some time to come," Nora concluded.

"That sounds reasonable," Jaune agreed. "But I don't think we want to try to report this right now."

"I think you're about to say things that you don't want me to hear," Kapici interrupted. "My old friends have fallen in with important folk, I think. I'll leave you to your discussions later. For now, let me feed myself and maybe trade some stories of where we've been."

Jaune quickly saw the wisdom in those words, and soon lost himself in the three's banter. He was honestly amazed to hear all three talk about someone, an old man named Sadik, who had taught a number of orphans to read and taught Ren and Nora weapons.

"We never learned where he came from," Kapici told Ruby and Jaune. "He lived on a farm down south of the great lake. I don't think it was his, I think he moved into it after bandits or grimm forced the owners away. Anyway, he took in orphans, fed us as best he could and tried to set us on a proper path. He managed to get these two accepted to Sanctum, so he might have been a huntsman at some point."

"Is he still there?" Ruby asked. "We passed south of the lake and these two didn't try to find him."

All three orphans frowned.

"Maybe that's a story for another day," Kapici suggested. Ren and Nora, both looking sad, agreed.

"So, what have you been doing?" Nora asked him.

"Aw, you know me," he shrugged. "Never been all that smart, but I can work a hard day. I just went to where the pay was best and wound up here."

Nora wasn't about to let him off with that light of an explanation. She insisted that he keep talking and found out that when they entered Sanctum, he worked his way along the great lake's south shore, doing pretty much whatever he could for a few lien. He eventually found his way to Gozadasi, where he found permanent employment...mainly because he had hit a solid growth spurt and was strong enough to outwork most longshoremen. Apparently, he also made a point of making friends with other tradesmen, so that he could ease the island's orphans into gainful employment.

"Tell your dishwasher that I'll have a word with him if he slacks off," he told the serving man, who again just smiled. "The dishwasher is a young boy, lives in my apartment," Kapici explained. "I found him this job so he has something to do outside of school. Who knows, he may become a cook some day. Not the noble calling of a huntsman, but the best I could do for him."

Jaune had to shake his head in admiration; not all heroes went out and fought grimm and villains. Some took care of the aftermath.

"How about grimm?" Nora asked him. "Are they a problem? We're pretty good at dealing with them and we're starting to run a little thin for lien."

"Grimm are on the island," he confirmed. "And we don't have proper hunters to deal with them. We have a militia of sorts, it guards our city and patrols some of the major roads, but it's costly. Without dust for guns, they've pulled back into the city and only go out when there's a large caravan to be guarded."

"So that means we might find some work," Nora concluded.

"You might," he agreed. "The marshaling yards are just inside the west gate." He then sighed.

"What's wrong?" Ren asked him.

"There have been strangers showing up in town," he told them. "Mostly faunas, and they're not friendly." He shook his head. "Look, I know that faunas and humans don't often get along all that well, but faunas are usually friendly with each other." He lifted his leg to show that he had hooves rather than feet. "This bunch, they don't even want to talk to me and that's unusual; a faunas in a strange town likes to get some news from the locals...these guys are really stand-offish."

Team RNJR shared a look; they all knew that Torchwick had worked with the White Fang in the past.

"I know that look," he told them. "This news has something to do with your mission to track those heavy things. I think we're getting close to something I shouldn't learn. Instead, tell me what you've been up to, you have to have some good stories to go along with the sad."

Ren and Nora chatted with their friend for over an hour, describing misadventures with Team JNPR, Team RNJR and describing some less that stellar things the two of them had done before reaching Beacon. With the hour getting late, Kapici took his leave. After that, Nora herded the party to the room they had rented.

"Okay, we need lien and we don't want to just wait for Torchwick to show up and spot us. Kapici will let us know if the things we're tracking go anywhere other than where we expect them to, so I say we try to take a sweep or escort job, something that will take us out of town, put some money in our pockets and give us a look of the land around here."

Neither of the other three could argue with her reasoning.

"But we do it tomorrow." She insisted. "I'm not going to go hang around a marshaling yard on a rainy night."

Again, there were no arguments.

Jaune actually slept well, even though the team were in their sleeping bags on the floor. Just having a full belly that wasn't threatening to empty itself, as well as having a stationary surface under him, did a great deal for his tranquility. The next morning, after making themselves presentable and stuffing Nora full of pancakes, they made their way to the marshaling yards. Once there, the rest of the team let Jaune do the talking to some official-sort of people.

While they hadn't approached the proper people to see about employment, the folks they spoke to directed them to the proper party. Soon, Jaune was standing in a high tower, overlooking the land outside of Gozadasi City. He noted that a coastal plain, perhaps twenty kilometers wide, gave way to rising hills and then mountains. A wiry man, with a scar down one cheek, interrupted his musings.

"So, you're saying that you're a band of proper hunters?" The man gave him an appraising look that said he didn't believe the claim.

"No," Jaune corrected. "We're student hunters, who completed a year at Beacon. We came to Haven in hopes of enrolling and found no vacancy, so to speak."

"So now you're trying to make some lien," he nodded, looking much more reasonable. He held out his hand. "Mind letting me see that sword?"

While Jaune minded...a little, he drew Crocea Mors and offered it, hilt first.

"It's well kept," the man commented, after examining the blade closely. "But it's got a fair number of notches. It's seen hard use." He returned the weapon.

"I didn't put all of the notches there," Jaune admitted. "But we fought our way across Anima to Mistral. I caused some of them."

"Okay, you're honest," the man nodded, then offered his hand. "The name's Uyanik. I'm the head of the militia, or whatever you choose to call our guard force."

"Jaune Arc," Jaune accepted the hand shake. "And I'll refer to the force as you prefer."

"We're called the militia," Uyanik told him. "There's no need to make it sound grand by calling it the Gozadasi Militia, or anything like that. Come here for a moment, I'll show you what we're dealing with."

The militia head led the blonde through a door and into what appeared to be some sort of operations center. Wires entered the room from a half-dozen points. Each led to a different desk, where each connected to a microphone and speaker.

"Mankind hasn't used wire based communication for centuries," Uyanik snorted, partly in amusement and partly in irritation. "With the CCT system down, our scrolls don't work. We have a dozen watchtowers, out in the farmland surrounding the city. You can barely see them from the city tower on a clear day. We've run wire to each one, so they can all communicate with us and we can relay information. When one point spots grimm, or raiders, they call it in here and we spread the word, keep the civilians away from the danger. We then try to deal with the trouble, but if it's raiders, they're usually gone by the time we get there. We've lost a lot of good people. We're not trained warriors and the dust shortage means we don't have many bullets."

Jaune could only nod.

"I'd like your team to do a sweep," Uyanik told him. Start from the city wall and head to the north tower. Once you reach it, the staff will call in. If there's no trouble, you'll head south to the next tower and report again. If there's trouble somewhere, when you call in, we'll direct you to where we need you."

Jaune nodded again. It was simple but logical.

"If you get caught outside the walls with the sun going down, you can stay in one of the towers," Uyanik continued. "There's spare room in them, plus you can eat in the tower's mess. Now, let's talk payment."

Jaune and Uyanik returned to the original room, which the young man now recognized as an observation platform. Now that he was looking, he could see the half-dozen cables, emerging from lower down the tower and each following a row of poles, off into the distance. The trek across the continent had taught Jaune about negotiating for services. The city of Gozadasi traded extensively with Mistral City, so there were lien to be earned. Jaune hammered out a deal where the team was very generous with the base fee, but would be paid generously for skirmishes fought. With a shake of hands, Jaune was on his way back down the tower to tell his team.

There was a break in the rain, so Team RNJR decided that there was no time like the present to get started. With their maps updated, they set off for the most northern watch tower, following the cables. While the weather was partly cloudy and pleasant, the ground was muddy and slick, so travel wasn't enjoyable. They passed several people, mainly farmers working their fields. The sun was high in the sky by the time they reached the first tower. The militia on guard invited them in for the noon meal and reported their arrival to the city. Uyanik stated that there were no reports of grimm or bandit activity, so asked them to continue to the next tower.

Team RNJR had to follow the map and ask for directions, as there were no wires leading directly between the two towers. Again, it was a muddy and unpleasant walk and several of the people they met had hard looks...at least until the team explained what they were about. Then, almost all of the country folk commented that it was about time that someone did something about the grimm in the area. The team was out of view of both towers for a couple of hours, so it was with some relief that they spotted their goal as the sun continued its western journey. It was still a couple of hours' travel before they reached the tower, and were again let inside by the guards. Again, they learned that the area around Gozadasi was quiet. As the sun was setting, they decided to stay the night in this tower and continue the patrol in the morning.

"The Yuk is due in tomorrow," Jaune murmured, when the tower's host gave the team some privacy.

"I know," Ren told him. The shorter man was sharpening Stormflower. "It may seem that we are abandoning our mission by leaving the city while our targets are unloaded, but we're doing the right thing. By remaining close, we risk discovery. Of course, that assumes that Torchwick has not already deduced that we are stalking his possessions."

"And we don't dare try to report in," Jaune replied. "There are too many people around to do it during the day and at night, everyone expects us in a tower."

"This is troubling," Ren admitted. "We have been unable to report, or receive additional guidance since leaving Derin Su."

"What do you think they are?" Jaune asked. It wasn't the first time he asked the question.

"I can only hazard vague guesses," Ren admitted, also not for the first time "At first, I assumed that they were bombs of some sort, but what is the point of taking them out to this island? Perhaps they are containers of more powerful weapons, and Torchwick wishes to arm followers while keeping them away from the kingdoms."

"That would explain the strangers showing up," Jaune nodded.

"Yes," Ren agreed. "Unfriendly faunas could easily be White Fang members. They have done Torchwick's bidding in the past."

"Do not put too much weight on my guesses," Ren cautioned, after a few moments' silence. "We will not know what they are until we receive the order to seize them."

"And we won't receive the order to seize them until we can check in," Jaune added. "How did life get so complicated?"

"It as always been so," Ren told him. Satisfied with his maintenance on his weapons, he unrolled his sleeping bag, kicked off his shoes and settled in to sleep. "We have simply assumed more responsibility and are beginning to appreciate that life isn't a simple thing."

Jaune found himself unable to sleep. Perhaps he had gone for too long without his nighttime aura training, or perhaps he was too worried about what the objects they were tracking were capable of doing. Somehow, he had the feeling that they were playing into Torchwick's hands with this. Sighing, he unrolled his bag and slid inside, staring at the ceiling for hours.

It rained during the night, a heavy but steady rain that cooled the world and generated a drumming sound that eventually lulled the blonde off to sleep. On the other hand, the rain also made traveling difficult and unpleasant, once again. Every low point in the ground was full of water, every ditch had become a stream. It was wet, muddy and slippery going, but since they managed to start at first light, they reached the third tower by mid-morning. Once there, they learned that those in the next tower had spotted grimm. The militia in the tower were making noise and drawing the grimm to the defensible structure, in an effort to keep them from rampaging through the open farmlands. Sharing determined looks, Team RNJR set off at a forced march.

Perhaps it was their expanding maturity, perhaps it was the hard lessons they had learned, but they didn't rush in blindly to combat. The towers were sturdy, so it should take days for lesser grimm to break in...even if the towers weren't being actively defended. When they closed upon their goal, they took care to conceal themselves using the plentiful shrubs and plum thickets to be found. With these simple precautions, they were able to spot the grimm attacking tower number four without being spotted. They didn't like what they saw.

"That's a very large horde of grimm," Jaune muttered to his companions.

"And with dust so short, we must think twice before utilizing our firearms," Ren added. Jaune gave him a look of irritated envy.

"They're being led by a beringel," Ruby pointed out. "It's hanging back, keeping a steady attack on the door."

The team watched as an ursa rushed the door and managed several hard blows on the sturdy wood before a hail of arrows brought it down. As soon as it dropped, a line of creeps attacked. These grimm were met by heavy stones from a window directly above the door. As each one fell, another took its place.

"The beringel is smart," Ren actually showed irritation. "It is keeping the grimm from rushing forward in mass and inhibiting each other. It is also saving up most of the more powerful grimm for such time that the defenders are out of arrows and stones."

The rest of the team noted several boarbatusks waiting directly behind the gorilla-like creature, where it could keep them under firm control.

"We're in luck," Nora, who was using her hand-binoculars, declared. "I see an older beowolf off to the right and an older ursa off to the left."

"Define luck," Jaune insisted, although he knew what she had in mind.

"Spike blast in stereo," Ruby said, with a wide, predatory, and in Jaune's opinion, disturbingly anticipatory smile.

"Jaune has the ursa," Ruby continued. "I'll get him there. Ren has the beowolf. Nora's got him. Let's synch scrolls."

Jaune was left wondering what happened to his nominal role as team leader. He had never tried this technique on an active opponent and he didn't like the idea of trying it for the first time while fighting a horde.

He really didn't like the fact that he couldn't come up with a better idea.

Fortunately for the team, the grimm, including the beringel, were fixated on the tower. The two pairs were able to move into position and keep eye contact with each other. With a nod...grim in Jaune's case, emotionless from Ren and absolutely joyous from the two girls, they sprang into action and Jaune was quickly too busy to pay much attention to the other pair. Close at hand, Ruby was of course a blur of motion, her scythe moving so fast that it blurred, even when she didn't use her semblance. The girl was constrained by the need to conserve ammunition, so instead of shooting the grimm and using the recoil to giver her blows more force, she concentrated on limbs. Soon, a blizzard of paws, claws, and dark appendages flew in the immediate area. Jaune had to keep close to the targeted ursa but not engage it until the grimm converged on him. It was nerve-wracking for him, but he managed to drop several creatures while biding his time. Finally, his scroll chimed.

Now it was time to take on the big ursa; but of course he had to wear it down. He knew the theory, but he also knew that he tended to screw things up the first time he attempted them. Blocking a paw swipe, he slashed the creature across the face then slashed it low on the abdomen. Now was the time; he stabbed it in the center mass and concentrated on pouring some of his aura into the beast. It was sent sprawling backwards. Finished, he yelled at Ruby, who had been keeping the rest of the horde away from him, and the two retreated.

He still couldn't perform the agile handsprings that his companions performed so easily, much less use them to evade opponents; but the trek across Anima had built up his leg muscles. He could take off on a dead sprint at an impressive speed, so he put this ability use. After a dozen strides, he spun while still retreating. The team's sudden retreat had caught the grim by surprise, so there was a small gap. He saw that the ursa he had attacked was swelling like a balloon, but the timing of the dual assault was a little off.

Maybe it was that Ren was quicker than him or maybe it was that an ursa has more mass than a beowolf. Maybe Ren was better at using an offensive aura technique. For whatever reason, Ren's opponent exploded first, spraying a small mass of sharp spikes in the immediate area. Several grimm went down, impaled, while Ren and Nora ceased their retreat and attacked again, taking advantage of the shock factor. Jaune had just enough time to worry that he had completely screwed up his attack before the ursa exploded.

Back when Torchwick had used an abandoned subway line to breach a gap for grimm to invade Vale, Fox Alistair performed the same trick, also on a large ursa, and eliminated an entire section of oncoming grimm. At the time, Jaune had been too involved in the hand-to-hand fighting to spare more than a fleeting glance across the battlefield. Today, only several meters from the detonation, he gained a whole new appreciation for the power of aura. He tucked himself behind his shield, making himself as small as possible and with Ruby right behind him, as two spikes deflected off of the metal surface. Then he and Ruby were imitating Ren and Nora, rushing forward to take advantage of the stunned grimm.

Creeps, beowolves and ursa fell to the oncoming team. Even one of the boarbatusks, stunned from the blast, caught Nora's hammer to the skull and went down hard. Then things got more difficult; the other boarbatusk, ready for a fight, attacked Ren while the beringel attacked Ruby.

Jaune quickly blocked Ren and Nora out of his mind. It wasn't that he wasn't concerned for them, it was that he and Ruby had their hands full with this large, powerful grimm and the lesser creatures still in the area. Ruby ducked under the creature's swipe and hooked its leg, yanking it off balance. A creep tried to jump on her back while she was distracted, but Jaune managed to decapitate it before engaging an ursa. Ruby offered him a nod; he would keep the other grimm away from her while she dealt with the big one.

It wasn't easy for Jaune; he had to fight grimm while keeping an eye on Ruby, seeking points at which he could assist her without becoming more of a nuisance than anything else. Ruby had handled one of these beasts herself, alone, but that was when she had plentiful ammunition and didn't have to worry about a dust shortage. While she wasn't about to turn down a killing shot, her habits of firing rounds to increase the strength of her cuts or to push her into the air were out for right now.

Another beowolf tried to attack the girl, but Jaune managed to get in between grimm and huntress and split the onrushing beast's skull. Behind him, the beringel jumped to its feet. Ruby activated her semblance, rushing by the creature and sweeping its feet again. This time, it feel flat on its back. Jaune jumped forward and slashed at its head, but the grimm was able to swat the blow away. Then, another ursa was coming on and the blonde had to devote his attention to it while Ruby returned to fight the more powerful beast.

Jaune didn't wait for the ursa to close on him. He rushed the creature and met it head-on. He managed to close fast enough that it couldn't manage a paw-swipe, used his shield to deflect the head upwards and lopped off a foreleg with an overhand chop. When the grimm staggered backwards he pressed his assault. His next slash glanced off the ursa's bony head armor and he was forced to duck another swipe. However, he met the lunging jaws with Crocea Mors' tip, forcing the blade into its mouth and out the back of its head. He kicked the corpse off of the blade and, with his opponent down, he risked a quick look at his teammates.

Ren and Nora had cleared their area of lesser grim and were now tangling with the boarbatusk. The creature was clever and quick, moving too rapidly for Nora to line up a solid shot. Ren's slashes glanced off of its armor as he tried to get it to hold still long enough for his companion to land a crushing blow. Ruby had learned from her previous fight with a beringel. She had told the others about getting Crescent Rose's point wedged in its armor and absorbing powerful blows as a result. Instead, she was using the outside blades on her scythe, opening cuts that weren't immediately fatal but would, hopefully, wear it down.

It was now a race to see if the hunters' stamina and aura held out longer than the beringel's hide.

With no other grim in the immediate area, Jaune was free to assist Ruby. He rushed the beast from behind and slashed at a leg, hoping to cut the hamstring...assuming the beast had a hamstring. Black smoke gushed from the wound but the creature backhanded him, lightning fast. He took the shot on his shield and managed to tumble with the blow; but this still left him dazed. Ruby took advantage of the situation to slash the creature twice more, on the same leg Jaune had targeted. The agile girl retreated before the beringel could land a shot on her.

Heaving himself to his feet, Jaune feinted another charge at the grimm, but it quickly turned to face him. He backed off and it spun again, now facing Ruby. The girl swept by it, narrowly avoiding a clutching paw, and stood next to Jaune.

"I have an idea," she told him. "You move in close, take its attention, and I'll trip it on top of you."

"What!?" The idea seemed more than a little off to the blonde.

"It throws its arms out when it falls," she told him. "If you're right in front of it you can..."

"I got it!" He snapped. "I don't like it, but I got it!" Reminding himself to make better plans in the future, so he wasn't stuck working with one like this, he closed with the beast, using a rapid, yet measure pace.

The beringel pounded its chest and lunged at him, clearly favoring the leg that the two hunters had slashed. Jaune managed to block one blow with his shield and slashed the other paw with the sword. He actually managed to land a kick into the beast's belly, which forced it to back off slightly. It was now enraged, roaring at him and seizing his shield. Jaune hung on for dear life, sure he was going to have his arm torn out at the shoulder, when Ruby struck.

With the beringel's attention fully on the young man, she was able to rush the beast and catch an ankle with Crescent Rose. Using all of her strength, and one of her precious dust rounds, she sliced deep and pulled the foot off of the ground. The creature's wounded leg wouldn't hold its weight and, roaring in rage while flailing its arms for balance, it fell.

Right on top of Jaune.

The young man was no fool and knew what was going to happen. Doing his best to keep calm and line up his strike, he gritted his teeth against the pain to come and struck with as much precision as he could muster. The roaring mouth descending on him made an excellent target. Crocea Mors struck true; driven by Jaune's nervous strength and the weight of the falling grimm, it plunged into the maw and through the back of the beast's head. Jaune had a moment of triumph before the beast's full weight came down on top of him.

Jaune remembered reading that a wise man once stated that putting your hand on a hot stove for a minute felt like an hour, while talking to a pretty girl for an hour felt like a minute (1). He had a new saying; the handful of seconds it takes for a beringel to dissipate feels like a lifetime, at least when the grimm is laying on top of you and its fangs are inches from your face. Still, his armor kept him from being crushed and the beast eventually dissolved into black smoke. He had no sooner heaved himself into a sitting position when, with a loud whoop of joy, Nora seized him, yanked him to his feet, enfolded him in a massive hug and spun him around like a rag doll.

"I knew you two would make a great team!" She crowed, while he wondered if her hugs were more damaging than a beringel's weight.

"Wait, the rest of the grimm..." he managed to gasp out.

"We have eliminated them," Res assured him. "The twin blasts killed most of them and stunned one of the two boarbatusks, which was easily dealt with. We only needed to dispatch a handful of lesser grimm and the one boarbatusk. The two of you had the most difficult foe."

"Well, Ruby had already handled one of them by herself," Jaune answered, massaging his ribs. Nora had finally decided that his feet belonged on the ground.

"But it went a lot easier with you," the younger girl admitted, placing a fond hand on his arm. "And I only needed to use one dust round." Now, her face broke into a smile that was equal part pure joy and evil contemplation. "We're gonna go through anything that tries to stop us."

The self-congratulations were interrupted by the militia in the tower emerging to thank and praise the team. Suddenly, it felt like being a hunter was a good idea again. The grateful guards reported the incident to Gozadasi, while allowing the team the use of their tower's facilities to clean up and check for wounds. The four student hunters had only a few nicks and bruises, which were rapidly fading, so they decided to push on to the fifth tower right away. While the ground was still wet and muddy, the travel seemed much more pleasant, even if Ren brought up a troubling thought.

"This is a strange world we live in," he commented, once they were clear of the tower, farms and bystanders. "We have the technology to fly through the air, yet the guards in a large city's defense force are reduced to using arrows and stones."

"It's the embargo," Nora told him. "Those guards aren't trained to go toe-to-toe with the grimm. Without dust for their weapons, it's the best course of action to take."

Jaune noted that Ruby had gotten melancholy when Nora mentioned the dust embargo.

"So Ruby," he addressed her, in order to keep her out of a funk. "That idea with the beringel was great! Do you have any more suggestions?"

"Oh, yeah!" Her smile quickly returned. Jaune had to admit that he much preferred her smile to her mope. She was cute when she smiled.

"I was thinking of carrying you with me, like I did Nora when we fought the geist," she told him. "Only if you hold your shield out forward and angle your sword..."

The rest of the team listened, with increasing respect and a little nervousness, as she described a potential attack utilizing her speed and Jaune's armor and strong aura.

"Ruby," Nora commented when she finished her narration. "You've managed to impress me and scare the heck out of me at the same time. You're going to be an awesome huntress, but I think we need to find you some sort of hobby, as well. You can create more mayhem just by thinking than most of us can by going out and actually trying to make it."

"Hey!" The younger girl protested. "Just because I like what I do doesn't mean I'm obsessed!"

"Of course not!" Nora agreed. "It's just a coincidence that the Beacon dance was only the second dance you've ever been to, and the first time you've ever wore heels. Your idea of idea of a teddy bear is a ursa doll..."

"Mr. Growls is cute!" Ruby protested.

"You've never been on a date," Nora continued. "Even though you were surrounded by cute boys at Beacon."

"I'm only sixteen!" Ruby countered. "And I was too busy to check out the boys!"

"Your idea of a day to yourself involves plotting out strategies or checking out weapons' shops," Nora maintained her assault.

"I make cookies...sometimes!" Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah," Nora snorted. "Just to get more sugar into you so you have the energy to train and fight more."

"I...uh..." suddenly, Ruby slumped her head. "Oh, God I _am_ obsessed, aren't I?"

"I'd call it dedicated," Jaune added, placing a friendly, comforting hand on her shoulder. Ruby's smile grew wider, almost triumphant in response.

"Speaking of dedicated," the blonde continued, looking around, confirming that nobody was within earshot. "I'd like to report to Winter, but we don't dare."

"We have already discussed this," Ren told him. "The people we meet here are not kingdom dwellers, but they are hardly foolish. If someone was to see us with the antenna extended, they will be able to guess that we are communicating with someone far away. This could create complications that inhibit our ability to fulfill our mission."

"Kapici will keep an eye on the docks," Nora added. "Those heavy things aren't going to go anywhere very fast, so when we're back in Gozadasi we'll be able to track them down. Since they're going into the mountains, we'll be able to find someplace secret to get in our report."

Jaune didn't look convinced.

"It can be difficult to trust others," Ren advised him. "But trying to do everything only leads to disaster. Kapici is a good man and learning where the objects are going to be taken is well within his capabilities."

"I know," Jaune nodded. "But I just can't help but think that we're overlooking something."

Even though he had misgivings, the bright, warm sun quickly made his mood better. They had just defeated a strong band of grimm, been praised by the local militia and knew that their deeds had been reported to Uyanik. Kapici would keep a discrete eye on their targets, so everything was under control. Despite the slipping, sliding and wet feet and legs, they reached the fifth tower by mid-afternoon. The guards reported no further sightings of bandits or grimm and treated the team to a late lunch. After a short discussion, the team realized that if they left now, they would reach the sixth tower shortly after sundown.

"I say we go for it!" Nora declared. "We're supposed to fight grimm and bandits. If either one is in the area at night, they'll come after us rather than the civilians we're supposed to be protecting."

"If we were to travel after the sun goes down, we will not be observed for some time," Ren added, with a quick eye-roll to the east.

It was hard to argue with such logic. They were all young and fit, so the long walk wouldn't be daunting. They were supposed to be ready to face the creatures of darkness at any time, so they certainly couldn't be afraid of the dark, could they? The militia signaled that the team was on the way to tower six and Team RNJR was off again.

The sun had dried the ground during the day, so the late afternoon and early evening hike was considerably more quick and pleasant than the morning had been. The locals, working their fields and livestock, were talkative and friendly, speeding the team on their way. As the sun lowered behind the mountains to the west, the locals became more scarce, going into their homes for the night. When there were no more locals outside and visibility had dropped to a couple of feet, the team shared a nod.

Ruby, Ren and Nora spread out and kept watch while Jaune set up the antenna and attached his scroll to the communication device. Again, he waited for a few minutes, wondering if it would be able to contact Winter. Soon, a green light came on his petition, informing him that his report had been recorded, an automated response had been received and that there would be no further instructions at this time.

Satisfied, Jaune packed up the antenna and the communications device before opening the petition and reading the message. What he saw made his eyes fly wide.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, as his friends gathered around him.

"Those things we're following are bombs," he told them, finishing reading the message before handing his scroll around so that his friends could read for themselves. "Each one is capable of destroying a city, maybe more."

"What else is in the message?" Ruby asked, fidgeting while she waited her turn to read it.'

"Orders to grab them and disarm them," he told her. "As well as instructions on how to disarm them."

"Each bomb should contain a sphere of heavy metal," Ren read. "Surrounded by a layer of explosives and activation wiring. We must cut the wiring first, then remove the explosives from the heavy metal. This metal may, or may not, be warm to the touch."

"So we have to break off this mission and head back to Gozadasi," Jaune declared, while Ren handed the scroll to Nora.

"I do not think that is advisable," Ren countered.

"But we have our orders!" Jaune protested.

"Given without knowing the exact situation," Ren told him. "Think! These must be rare devices, so I doubt that Cinder or Salem intends to squander them on Gozadasi. Neither this city nor the abandoned quarry are the ultimate goal."

"So?" Ruby challenged him. "They're still dangerous."

"Exactly," Ren agreed, noting that Nora now handed the scroll to the younger girl. "So we need to use caution when we seize them. If we attempt to gain control of them, whomever has them might detonate them, rather than let them fall into our hands."

"Do you really think that Torchwick would sacrifice himself?" Jaune asked, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"Torchwick may not be the one making the decision," Ren countered, calmly. "Kapici stated that secretive faunas are showing up in the area. If they are White Fang, Torchwick may turn the weapons over to them. We know that at least some of the White Fang are prepared to martyr themselves."

"So what do you suggest?" Ruby asked, handing the scroll back to Jaune.

"Let Torchwick move the devices to the quarry and attempt to seize them there," Ren answered. "If we are unsuccessful in disarming them, an explosion outside of the city will be preferable to a detonation inside the city."

"So we should go back and keep an eye on them?" Ruby asked.

"No!" Ren insisted. "Our presence will only serve to aggravate Torchwick. Let him think that we are out here, on patrol, with no way of tracking these bombs. As I was saying to Jaune, earlier, it is difficult to trust others, but if we try to do everything, disaster may follow."

"You're right," Jaune nodded. "But we're going to to push ourselves tomorrow, finish the patrol and get on those things as quickly as possible."

"I will not argue the wisdom of that thought," Ren nodded. "But I would much rather have these devices outside of any town before violence erupts around them."

(1). Attributed to Albert Einstein. I'm assuming that Remnant has a similar saying.

* * *

"Have you managed to find anything?" Neptune asked Yang, as he, Scarlet and Sage slid onto the other three stools surrounding the golden-haired girl's table in the coffee shop.

"Nothing worth talking about," Yang shook her head. "Employees at a dust shop remembered them coming in and doing some window shopping, but that was weeks and weeks ago. They can't remember exactly when it was." She sighed in frustration. "How about you?"

"A couple of recordings," he told her. "This is from a small park, taken the morning after their meeting with the headmaster."

Yang observed, her jaw clenched, at the footage of Ruby, followed by Jaune, emerging from some bushes. The two cleaned up a little at a pond before walking away. The scene shifted to another camera's coverage and showed the two walking away from the park, with Ruby holding Jaune's lower arm and resting her head against his upper arm."

" _She's grown,_ " Yang shook her head and blinked back a tear. " _She's only been gone a few months and I swear she's an inch taller._ "

"They look exhausted and...disheveled," she commented. "Were there any reports of fighting or criminal activities being broken up in the area?"

Sage and Scarlet both snorted. Yang tried to glare at them, but they refused to meet her eyes. Neptune looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"What is it?" Yang demanded.

"That...park..." Neptune now looked extremely uncomfortable. "It's known...well, teenagers...er, when you want a little privacy...there are lots of trees and shrubs..."

"Just come out and say it!" Yang's eyes had flashed red again.

"Fine!" Neptune squared himself to her, looking like someone about to admit mischief to Glynda. "That park is a local _privacy_ area for the local teens. After dark, it's usually full of young people who want to...get...a...little... _frisky_?"

For several, endless seconds, Yang simply stared at the blue-haired boy, a completely blank expression on her face. Then, she manipulated the scroll controls and reviewed the footage. Okay, the two of them emerged from the bushes looking tired, untidy but somehow satisfied. Her eyes widened a bit. Then they cleaned up a little at the pond. When the camera footage shifted, she froze the image on her sister and Jaune. They both had wide, almost empty-headed smiles on their faces.

"When I catch up to them, that boy's getting his teeth knocked so far down his throat he's going to be smiling out of his..."

"Yang!" Neptune interrupted. "Let's be honest! Ruby could shred Jaune in a fight. Even if they...did what it looks like they might have...he didn't force her to do anything."

"No, but she's only sixteen!" Yang snarled back. "She doesn't know how manipulative guys are!"

She was confronted by three sets of eyes, set in three blank faces, staring at her.

"No offense intended," she quickly blurted.

"None taken," Neptune told her, his grating voice proving his words a lie. "But can you really picture Jaune...coercing her in any way?"

"Not until I saw this footage," Yang growled in reply.

"Hey, all I'm asking is that you keep an open mind and just talk to them before you do anything, okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she grumbled. _"After all, it's tradition for the condemned man to get to say his piece and as for Ruby? She's getting a piece of_ my _mind."_

"Okay," Neptune nodded. "Now that you've decided to be at least a little reasonable, I'll show you some more footage." He manipulated his scroll's controls some more and set the device back in front of her. Now, it showed Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren; all in their traveling/fighting attire, walking down what appeared to be a street in a less-than-ideal section of the city.

"That's down in the southern quarter," Neptune told her. "There are several places there where, if you know the right people, you can leave the city with no official record of it. The system can't find any images of any of them after that one."

"When was this taken?" Yang asked.

"The day after the previous one," Neptune told her.

"So they left the city," Yang surmised.

"It looks that way," Neptune shrugged. "Hey, for all I know, the facial recognition software in the city mainframe might find more recent footage, but this is what it could find after nearly a week of searching the stored files."

"One think we know for a fact," Scarlet interrupted. "Is that none of those four have appeared in a hospital, a city office, a port of entry, or a morgue, since that last footage."

"That's something, at least," Yang admitted. "So, you think that they could have gone south?"

"That's where most of the young hunters-in-training have been going," Neptune told her.

"Then I guess that's where I'm going," she sighed. "Could you guys use another set of hands when you head that way?"

"We'd welcome it," Neptune assured her, while Sage and Scarlet nodded their agreement. The blue-haired boy looked around, confirming that nobody was close enough to overhear. "Another Schnee freighter docked in Windhaven yesterday. The dust is being cross-loaded at this time, so a train full of dust is going to be heading south to Kuchinashi tomorrow. That's our first assignment, riding shotgun to make sure the dust gets to where it needs to be. We can write you in on the mission yet today."

"I'm in," Yang declared, with no hesitation. " _And if Ruby doesn't have a really good explanation for what I saw, bandits and grimm are going to be the least of those two's worries._ "

* * *

It was late at night at the former lair; what was now a secret scientific and fabrication facility. Kim wandered the floor rather listlessly; it was still early in the process, so it was operating on a skeleton crew. For a short time, she listened in as Justine was discussing her portion of the operation with Drakken and Rufus, gesturing over plans and schematics on a work station. A great deal of what they were debating went completely over the redhead's head.

"Hey-yo!" Rufus greeted her cheerfully, once he noticed that she was nearby.

"Hi Rufus," with a genuine smile, Kim reached to the rodent and allowed him to scamper up her arm to perch on her shoulder.

"Ah, Kim Possible," Drakken now greeted her. "I want you to know that we are making solid progress! Granted, most of the work is theoretical at this time, but we've deduced enough to let Eddy and your father start working on the initial fabrication." He gestured to the center of the vast chamber, where small figures could be seen building a very large structure."

"I don't understand," Kim admitted. "Justine opened a portal to another dimension when she was in high school. Why do we need this much effort now?"

"I opened a portal to a random dimension," the blonde girl. told her. "Now, we're trying to get to a specific point, in a specific reality."

"Still not grasping the ish." Kim told her.

Justine took a deep breath. "Kim, how many dimensions are you aware of at this time?"

"Three," Kim told her.

"Actually, you can perceive four," the genius corrected her. "Height, width, depth and time. However, there are twelve dimensions that cross all realities."

Drakken coughed.

"Some people disagree with this," Justine gave the blue man an irritated look. "And these people are what I like to call 'wrong'. It's by attuning to each of these twelve dimensions that we can find a specific point and time in the multiple realities."

"Sort of like a combination lock?" Kim asked.

"That's about as accurate as the layman could understand," Justine told her. "But each of those twelve dimensions has well over a thousand possible _settings_. As a result, the number of possible realities isn't infinite, but it's considerably more than I'm capable of grasping." The young genius snorted out a laugh. "Who knows, there may even be a reality out there were actors, community organizers and reality television personalities get elected President."

Kim shared in her momentary laughter.

"This is just the theory," Justine sighed. "Being able to implement it is going to be a greater challenge. That's what your uncle, father and Drakken's cousin are working on now." She gestured to the center of the chamber. "Even with all this effort, it's vital to have Dementor's cooperation. If we don't know the correct combination...so to speak...there won't be enough time in eternity to investigate every reality out there and find Ron."

Both impressed with the science and depressed by the scale, Kim let the two humans get back to their discussion, which was held in a math-based language that the redhead couldn't begin to comprehend. Instead of trying, she wandered to the assembly point, where her father and Slim were in what seemed to be a one-way, yet animated conversation with Ed Lipsky.

"The suspension it will take to handle all the cross stresses is going to be mondo, seriously!" The big man was saying, as Kim walked close enough to listen in. "The power required is going to be massive, I mean seriously on a scale that I've never seen, seriously! Are you sure you can deliver?"

"The space center has authorized us to use spare rocket engines from the Kepler," Dr. Possible told the mechanical genius. "So you'll have three engines, each of which are capable of lifting a multi-ton spacecraft out of Earth's orbit, as well as the electrical power Drew's zero point energy generator can deliver."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," James Possible assured the younger man.

"And ahl be a' ready to deal with the rotation control," Slim assured the man. "If'n y'all kin deliver th' power t'where it needs t'be, ahl make sure it does wut it needs t'do."

"We could seriously save time if we cut out all these safeguards and quick shut-downs that you want to put it!" Ed continued, pointing out items on a display. "I mean, seriously, we're doing all of this under a mountain! Isn't that safe enough?"

"I'm sure we're gonna miss a time or two when we try to fire this ol' bessy up," Slim told him. "We don't know what's gonna be on the other side."

"That's what the mountain is for!" Ed protested.

"But it might be something the mountain can't stop," James told him. "What if we open the portal in or near a black hole, or a sun? What if we catch a reality that hasn't had its big bang yet, and open the door on that event?"

"Whoa!" Ed's eyes got wide. "To be able to see something like that..."

For a couple of minutes, the Possible brothers, as well as a daughter/niece, waited for the word 'seriously' to indicate that Ed was finished with his statement. When his eyes showed no sign of becoming focused again, Kim decided it was safe to cut into the conversation.

"Hey," Kim greeted them. "How's it going?"

"Yo, Red!" Ed greeted her in return, snapping out of his brain-lock. "Sorry I harshed on you for bringing me in on this the other day, seriously. I didn't know how serious this build was gonna be!"

"Just what are you building?" Kim asked the three. "Drakken gave me some ideas, but he always gets distracted when he starts to explain."

"We have to build something similar to Russian nesting dolls," her father explained. "But using twelve large, absolutely perfect spheres. Each of these spheres will be embedded with fiber-optic cables and will be rotated at extremely high speeds. In fact, each sphere itself will attain a speed close to three percent of the speed of light."

"Which is why, when we fire 'er up, were a gonna have to pump all the air out of this chamber," Slim told her. "And that's where my robotics comes in, somthin' t'work in here when it's a vacuum."

"When we activate the fiber-optic cables, the photons inside of them will actually exceed the speed of light, causing a rift to form in our reality," James continued.

"Wait!" Kim chimed in. "Justine said something about twelve dimensions separating the realities."

"They correspond to the twelve nested spheres," her father confirmed. "Each must be rotated with a power and precision unlike anything attempted before."

"I didn't know it would take this kind of effort," she murmured. "It's amazing what you're all doing."

"My daughter said that if'n I didn't help bring that feller back, she'd see to it that I found somethin' nasty in my boots," Slim told his niece.

"And I'm fond of Ronald," James admitted. "I'm a lot more comfortable seeing you with him, as opposed to some boy."

Kim growled a little, but turned to Ed.

"How about you," she asked. "Why are you helping?"

"Hey, I got no grief with the skinny dude!" Ed told her. "I mean, I'm not about to do all this just for him, seriously! But this is going to be the biggest, most powerful, most precise build I've ever done! Seriously, it's the most complex build I've ever heard of! How can I turn that down? Seriously? This is gonna be sweeeeeeeet!" The big man cut into an air-guitar solo that had him bending over backwards far enough for his mullet to touch the stony ground beneath him.

Kim gave the three a heartfelt, but weary smile.

"Why don't you head home?" James suggested. "You're exhausted and there's nothing here that we don't have control over."

"Thanks, dad," she nodded. "It just seems...wrong...to relax when I don't know how Ron is right now. Is he safe? Is he cold? Is he hungry or scared?"

"There's no way to know, Kimmie-cub," James put a comforting arm around his daughter's shoulders. "We just have to keep working."

In a large room, somehow both far away and close to the underground chamber where Kim's team was working, Ron Stoppable woke up. He looked around the dim room, a vague sense of disquiet slowly fading. Shrugging his shoulders, he burrowed back into the silk sheets, in the soft, warm bed, and returned to sleep.

* * *

 _A/N: Again, thanks to everyone who has continued to follow this tale. The reviews and PMs really help keep the motivation up._

 _Big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his Beta Reading assistance._


	19. Chapter 19

Jaune Arc never thought that he could be so relieved, yet so apprehensive, about seeing a city's wall come into view on the horizon. Were the bombs still in Gozadasi? Was Torchwick setting a trap for the team? Had Kapici been able to keep a discrete eye on them? The answers, and potentially horrible consequences, lay on the other side of the barrier. A quick look at his three teammates' tired faces told him that he wasn't the only one feeling conflicted emotions.

After learning that they were tracking some sort of super-bombs, the team had pushed on to tower six. After the guards in the tower fed them and gave them a large room to bed down, they discussed that they should take their time approaching the city, as they wanted to let Torchwick get the bombs clear of the settlement. Nora pointed out that it would be just their luck, and a horrible thing, if they were to walk into the west gate while Torchwick was leading wagons out of it. It turned out that they didn't need to worry about the timing.

The next morning, the tower guards received word that grimm were moving in on tower number two. Ren quickly grabbed Jaune's shoulder when he was ready to protest that they needed to get back to the city and the blonde got the message. They had to stay true to their mission; wandering student-hunters would be determined to earn their lien, as well as the reputation that came with successful hunting. They set off back to the north at a forced march.

Even with their concerns about the bombs, they didn't allow themselves to get into too much of a rush. It wouldn't do for them to reach the tower too exhausted to actually fight. Instead, they maintained a rapid, but not tiring pace. Still, it was a long hike and the sun had set by the time they reached tower number two. Again, they took some time to scope out their opponents before rushing into battle. They were heartened to see that although it was a large pack, it wasn't commanded by an intelligent grimm. A mass of lesser dark creatures was hurling themselves against the tower, getting in each others way as they tried to batter through the door.

There were no overly large ursa or beowolves in the pack, which was both fortunate in that all of the grimm were relatively weak and unfortunate in that they couldn't repeat their tactic from the previous day. After only a few minutes of discussion, they decided to split into two pairs and attack the grimm from two sides, hopefully meeting at the tower door. Since Ren and Nora had always looked after each other, Jaune teamed with Ruby again and followed one of the suggestions Ruby had made during the trip across the great lake. Jaune took the lead, his shield up, while Ruby used him as a moving castle wall. It proved devastating.

Ruby was blistering in the attack; Jaune realized that. By allowing her to quickly retreat behind him whenever she was under attack, she was able to concentrate even more on offense. The younger girl was a blur of motion; slashing at the stunned mass of grimm and retreating behind Jaune whenever they rallied to try to overwhelm her. Despite being the defender, Jaune was able to land more blows, as the oncoming grimm were concentrating on her. The blonde was amazed when they reached the tower door well before Ren and Nora. The two kept up their attack, soon meeting their teammates. With the grimm shredded, Nora grinned at the two in a way that was making Jaune nervous for some reason.

Before Nora could crack his ribs with another of her monster-hugs, the tower door opened and the defenders came out to thank the team and offer to put them up for the night. After sharing a quick look with his teammates, Jaune accepted their offer of hospitality. It had been a long day and night had come; traveling in the dark could be dangerous. That night, Jaune and Ren again spoke of their apprehensions over these supposed super weapons. Despite his calm demeanor, Ren showed his true feelings the next morning, when the usual morning-hater was ready to go at first light.

Fortunately for everyone's nerves, there were no reports of trouble when they set out, so they were able to head straight for the city. The travel proved to be pleasant, with the locals friendly after the news of Team RNJR's deeds got around. Now, just before noon, they were looking at the city walls on the horizon.

"We wish to maintain our cover story," Ren reminded everyone. "As hunters returning from a successful mission, we will of course be expected to visit Uyanik and secure our payment. I suggest that Jaune and Ruby do so while Nora and I speak with Kapici and get such details that we can about where the weapons have been taken."

A quick exchange of glances let everyone know that nobody had a better plan.

The team didn't push hard to get the rest of the way to the city, arriving after most people had already eaten their noon meal. This was fine for Jaune and Ruby, as it would be impolite to interrupt the militia head's meal. Instead, they soon found themselves at the top of the city tower, contemplating the surrounding lands while Uyanik separated himself from his duties.

"I have the reports from both towers," the man stepped out of the communication center, a broad grin on his face. "The four of you are pretty good. Two packs eliminated with no casualties. Now, let's see about the payment."

Since the terms had been agreed upon in advance, it was simply a matter of Uyanik removing the proper lien from a strong box and counting it to Jaune.

"I don't have authorization to hire you for another patrol," the leader's smile fell. "And I'd like to keep you around. Maybe in a couple more days the city council will allocate the funds for another patrol."

"We've learned that it's not a good idea to stay, once we've cleared out grimm," Jaune answered, thinking quickly. "We're heroes for the moment, but it won't take too many days without grimm activity before people start to wonder why we are still here."

Uyanik got a puzzled expression on his face, but allowed the blonde to continue.

"We're kind of interested in the mountains and quarries," he improvised. "So we're thinking of talking to one of the caravans that shuttles supplies up into the mountains, then brings the marble back down. We'll get to see a little more of your island and if there's trouble around when we get back, we can talk about another contract."

"That sounds reasonable," Uyanik nodded. "The caravans that go up the mountain can usually move fast enough to avoid the grimm. Getting the marble back down is a hassle; if grimm show up, the teamsters have to drop their loads and run for it. I'll pass the word down at the marshaling yards and let folks know how you did out there. If you're willing to take on a contract like you did with me, where you only make your lien if you have to fight, you should be able to sign an escort contract easy enough."

"Thanks," Jaune offered his hand.

"The least I can do," the man replied, shaking the proffered hand. "Here's hoping to do more business in the future."

It felt good to have lien in their pockets and good feelings towards the team as the two made their way back down the tower.

"That was good thinking," Ruby whispered to him, once they got back on the street. "Trying to get into the mountains with a caravan will keep our cover story intact."

"Hey," he shrugged. "Even I can do something right once in awhile."

"Jaune," she placed a hand on his arm again. "You're being too rough on yourself. I'm concerned about the b...er...the cargo, as well." Ruby looked around, relieved that nobody was paying any particular attention to them. "We've all come a long way from where we were when we left Patch." She heaved a sigh.

"I miss my family too," he gave her hand a comforting pat. "And I don't know if my letters have been making it back to them, either. It really hurts, doesn't it?"

Ruby could only nod.

"I guess that means we're growing up," he shrugged.

"Yeah," she agreed.

Their melancholy was broken when they met up with Ren and Nora.

"Kapici is working," Ren explained. "And laborers like he cannot leave a job for no reason. He will meet with us this evening, after his shift is finished. He was able to tell us that the heavy loads were removed from the Yuk, delivered to the warehouse, then taken by caravan towards the mountains."

"We can discuss this over lunch," Nora declared. "And we can make more plans at that time."

Ruby and Jaune shared a look, somehow managing to convey the knowledge that the few bites of hasty breakfast they had gulped down before dawn hadn't stayed with them very well and their concerns for letting Nora get too hungry. They both quickly nodded to the hammer-wielder, noting Ren's relief at their decision. Nora quickly herded the team towards a blue-collar cafe and soon they were sitting at a table with plain, but plentiful and hearty, fare in front of them.

As much as Jaune wanted to discuss his latest plan with his two friends, he realized that they were in a place where they could be overheard too easily. Instead, he stared in awed amazement at Nora's ability to pack away food.

"How can you do that?" He finally asked her.

"Do what?" It was a testament to Nora's growing etiquette that she paused her intake long enough to speak to him.

"How can you put down that much food and never gain an ounce?" Jaune shook his head in bewilderment.

"I'm high energy!" She declared, smiling broadly. "When you pack this much strength, pep and sex appeal in to one body, you gotta keep it fueled!" She made her point by gulping down a few more spoonfuls. "Besides," she pointed out, once she had taken the edge off of her hunger. "I see that you've started eating more, yourself."

"We didn't have much of a breakfast this morning," he pointed out.

"I don't mean just today," Nora corrected him. "When we left Patch, you ate like you did back at Beacon. Now, you're taking in a whole lot more!"

"Oh?" Jaune could feel a little heat rising to his cheeks. "Maybe I should cut down a little."

"Oh, no!" Nora corrected him. "You're putting on the weight where it needs to be, aren't I right, Ruby?"

"I...uh...well..." the younger girl stammered and blushed.

"So's Ren," Nora continued. "Eat well, work hard, fight your way across Anima and you start filling out those frames."

Both Jaune and Ren looked more than a little embarrassed.

"Hey, don't mind me," she told them. "I don't mind having a little eye candy on the trip! Now, why don't we finish eating and get out where we can talk about our plans?"

Nora's three companions were more than happy to focus on their meals, rather on the conversation. Soon, the four were back on the street and heading towards the marshaling yards, discussing the meeting with Uyanik.

"Seeking an escort contract into the mountains is an excellent idea," Ren pointed out.

"I was just suggesting that so he wouldn't be suspicious about us not looking for another job right away," Jaune told him.

"But it will give us an excellent reason to go into the mountains," Ren assured him. "If Torchwick has someone watching for us, it will be suspicious if we head into the mountains on our own, with no reason. On the other had, if we accompany a caravan, we will have a legitimate reason, even if we're noticed."

"Wow, I'm a genius," Jaune's chest puffed up.

His three companions face-palmed.

"Kapici didn't have time to tell us very much," Nora pointed out. "But he was able to tell us that the abandoned quarry was fairly close to active quarries...otherwise the teamsters wouldn't have agreed to take the cargo there. Jaune, why don't you work out a contract for us to escort a caravan into the mountains? In the meantime, hand over your pack."

"What?" The blonde questioned, although he shrugged his pack off of his back.

"It's maintenance time," Nora told him. "While you're finding us a job, we're going to hand over all of our clothes to a laundress, mend what we can and get our supplies back in order. After that, we're going to treat Kapici to a meal and unwind a little tonight."

She caught Jaune's look. "I'm concerned about the bombs, as well," she assured him. "But we're still alive and that means we're going to live a little."

Jaune really couldn't argue, so he handed over his pack, as well as the lien they had been paid, before going to the yards. He took a few minutes, watching various men and women talking to each other. Soon, he was able to pick out the few who were the centers of groups, the ones who were organizing caravans. Seeing his targets, he walked to the nearest and introduced himself.

Uyanik must have been good to his word, as the hard-eyed woman knew he represented a group of hunters that had eliminated two grimm packs outside the city. When Jaune corrected her and said that he represented a group of student-hunters, the corners of her lips quirked up slightly in a faint grin.

"I'm heading north on the coast road," she told him. "Taking manufactured goods to the smaller towns to be found and picking up what they produce."

"We were hoping to get into the mountains," Jaune confessed. "We've never seen the quarries that produce Mistral's marble."

"You've got another reason, I can see it," she told him. "But that's no concern of mine. Let me introduce you to someone."

She led him across the yards to a man who was another center of a group of people making deals. He also had heard of the team's deeds. He also smiled when Jaune corrected his assumption that they were proper hunters.

"I'm heading to the mountains," he told the young man. "First thing in the morning. We're carrying food and clothing, tools and medicine up to a quarry. Once there, we'll meet up with more wagons that had delivered some heavy loads to an abandoned place and bring back marble blocks." His eyes grew hard. "Something strange is happening up there, it's rare to take heavy loads _up_ the mountain but lien is lien. If you go looking for trouble, be sure you don't catch my lot up in it."

"We're looking into something strange," Jaune felt it was best to admit what he could. "But we'll fulfill our contract to you before we do it."

"Fair enough," the man offered a tight nod, then the two discussed payment. Jaune worked out a deal much as he had with Uyanik; the team would only receive payment if they fought off grimm or bandits. The two shook hands and Jaune was off to find his team.

They had rented a large room in the inn they had stayed on their first night and were sitting in a circle, discussing plans and guesses while they mended their clothes and maintained their weapons and other gear. Ren was digging through their packs, noting items that he wished to purchase before leaving town. The dark-haired young man looked thoughtful when Jaune announced his success.

"I had hoped to wait a couple of days," Ren admitted. "It would have given them time to become complacent and us some time to prepare for confrontation, but perhaps this is best. We do not know if they are going to move the devices soon and in an abandoned quarry, there will not be anyone to observe them if they do so."

"We just won't be able to party very late tonight," Nora added. Then she smiled. "That means we'll have to make up for it when we're done!"

Despite wondering what was more dangerous; facing some sort of super-bombs in the hands of Roman Torchwick or being with Nora when she was trying to make up for lost partying time, Jaune joined his teammates. They finished maintaining their gear and compiling a list of items to obtain. After that, they went out shopping, acquiring the rations, tools, and other assorted items that they had learned to take with them on a trek through the wilderness. After that, they picked up their spare clothing from the laundry and packed for the trip. Then, it was time to meet with Kapici and get what details he could provide.

"Ah, my friends!" He exclaimed, from a group of longshoremen who had just finished unloading a freighter. "Let's go have a meal together and talk before you continue your journeys. But first, I'd like to look out over the lake again! Come with me."

He led the way out onto an unoccupied dock. It wasn't until he was halfway to the end that Jaune realized that once they were at the end, there would be no bystanders close enough to overhear.

"The Yuk is almost loaded," the burly faunas told the team, gesturing with his head to a ship at another dock. "She'll be on her way with the morning's tide."

"Did you see the bo...err...what we spoke about?" Ren asked.

"See it? No," Kapici told them. "But speak with those who unloaded the so-called heavy loads? Yes. They were the first items off. There were the usual taunts; 'mainland longshoremen are weak, that wasn't heavy'. But they were taken to the warehouse I spoke about and hauled off to the abandoned quarry the day before yesterday."

"Is there anything else?" Ren asked him.

"I saw that Torchwick fellow," Kapici answered. "That, or there's more than one man with orange hair and a cane running about. I wasn't able to keep track of him but I haven't seen him since the day the caravan left. He's either with those things or he's staying low. I also saw a pretty girl with turquoise hair."

The team shared a meaningful look.

"The four of you are about to do something dangerous," Kapici continued. "I can see that. Why don't we have a nice meal together and remember old times? Maybe do something fun tonight."

"I don't know," Ruby interrupted. "We've got to be on the trail at first light."

"I'm not talking about drinking or partying until the sun comes up," he smiled a little sadly. "My friends, new and old, are about to go do something and they may not come back. If you don't, I want memories of laughter and good times."

Realizing that there was a certain wisdom to his words, the team accompanied him back to their inn's common room. There, they had a good meal while Kapici, Ren and Nora spoke about some of the good times and friends they had as orphans south of Mistral. Caught up in the mood, Jaune told of his trials growing up as the only boy with seven sisters. Ruby pitched in, telling a few stories of what it was like growing up with Yang, Taiyang and her Uncle Qrow. Despite the fact that everyone concentrated on happy tales, it was obvious that the three orphans missed their friends and that Ruby and Jaune missed their families. After the meal, Kapici led them to another establishment.

During the journey across first Sanus and then Anima, the team had frequented a fair number of pubs. Sometimes it was because they arrived in a town late at night and other establishments were closed but usually it was because the villages weren't large enough to have separate inns and pubs. Since they were teens and on a mission, they never drank and seldom joined in the activities. Tonight, with a well-liked local with them, they started to realize what they had been missing.

Being on a mission, they chose to not drink. However, they danced and sang with the locals. They told stories of the places they had been and listened to other tales, usually told by sailors who plied the great lake. They threw darts and played pool...although they didn't wager lien. In short, they enjoyed themselves for a few hours. With the hour getting closer to midnight, Nora regretfully rounded up the team and herded them out. Kapici came with them.

First, Jaune clasped wrists with the man, thanking him for his help. Then Ruby did so, also telling him how much they appreciated his assistance. He blushed a bit, but told them that making new friends was worth what little effort he put forth. Then, when it was time for him to say his farewells to Ren and Nora, his eyes grew moist and his voice quavered a little.

"Be careful," he hugged the usually reserved Ren. "Whatever it is that you need to do, come back safe so you can tell me the tale."

"I shall attempt to do so," Ren assured him. "Our team always takes care of each other."

"And pull your head out when it comes to Nora," Kapici lectured him. "A fine girl like her will only show up in your life once."

This actually made Nora blush, but she took her turn saying farewell, giving him a peck on the cheek.

"Maybe you'd better follow your own advice," she told him. "You're taking care of orphans. Why don't you find some girl and make her happy?"

"The ladies around these parts are too smart," he told her, hugging her as he had Ren. "Why would they want anything to do with a lunk like me?"

"So in denial," Nora smiled at him, even though she wiped away a tear. "Your bachelor days are numbered, whether you admit it or not."

There was nothing more to say and so, like pragmatic people the world over, they chose to not tarry, no matter how much they wanted to. Kapici had to be on the docks at sunup and Team RNJR had to be in the marshaling yards at the same time. Without looking back, they all made their way to their respective beds.

The next morning found the team, freshly stuffed full of pancakes, at the marshaling yards. There were a few quick words with the caravan master. As the sun started to peek over the eastern horizon, Team RNJR was treated to an act that was part ceremony, part routine.

A guard on the wall, next to the gate, called into the city. "The sun is up," he shouted. "No foes in sight!"

Next, Uyanik stepped out of the tower and onto a balcony that overlooked the yards. "All towers report in!" He shouted. "No foes to be seen! Open the gates!"

In response, the city's gates swung open.

"Fair journeys to all who depart!" The militia leader shouted. "And may you return soon to our welcome!"

With that, those assembled in the marshaling yard filed out of the city gates. There was one large caravan in addition to the one Team RNJR was escorting. There were also dozens of smaller groups, ranging in size from a single mule to three oxcarts, heading to various destinations. As the groups dispersed, each following its own course, the team formed into a protective wedge in front of the plodding mules.

This close to the city, attack from behind was unlikely so Jaune took point, several dozen yards in front of the lead wagon. Ren had the left flank and Nora the right while Ruby, with her hyper speed, stayed with the caravan, where she could quickly rush to anyone's aid. Even unladen, mules were not the fastest of creatures, so the pace allowed Jaune to speak with the occasional local; mostly farm families tending to their endless chores. It didn't take long for Jaune to realize that the militia had spread the word about the 'hunters in training, led by a blonde boy'. The locals were friendly and told Jaune about a very good place, next to a shady river, to break at midday. Of course, the local teamsters already knew about it, but Jaune filed that piece of information away for the future; it payed to get on the locals' good side.

While a fit person, carrying a reasonably light pack, can walk all day, beasts of burden cannot. For that reason, the teamsters had to rest the mules, which allowed the humans to have a light, midday meal. Then it was off again. The human population thinned out and while the road they followed was well-maintained, the country grew more and more wild as they continued. Late in the afternoon, they passed beyond the range of the Gozadasi Towers and the caravan master told the team that another river ford, which represented a good place to camp, was about thirty minutes' travel away. Jaune and Ruby pushed ahead and scouted the site for danger while Ren and Nora remained with the caravan. There were no incidents and once at the campsite, the teamsters went into a well-oiled routine of setting up camp.

Part of the contract stated that the caravan would provide food for the team. Ruby, Ren, Jaune and Nora pitched in with the camp chores, determined to maintain a good rapport with those they protected. When it was time to bed down, one of the team remained awake at all times. While one of the teamsters also stayed awake, it was vital that at least one fighter remain on guard, ready to hold off any attackers until the rest were up and active. The precaution proved unnecessary, at least for that night. The teamsters rose before dawn, much to Ren's dissatisfaction, and were fed and on the trail by the time the sun made its appearance.

The team escorted the caravan for over a week with no incidents. With each passing day, the ground grew steeper and more wild. Grasslands gave way to scrub and then to forest. The streams they encountered transitioned from slow, shallow muddy flows to clear, energetic rapids. As the terrain closed in, the team became more alert. Jaune reluctantly gave up his point position to Ren, who had some sort of sense about incoming danger. He and Nora covered the flanks, keeping just within view of the caravan, which slowed slightly as the going grew more steep. Every evening, the team conversed a little in secretive whispers. At several points during each days' travel, they saw deep, fresh wheel-ruts in the ground. Since they had not encountered a caravan coming the other way, they were certain they were on the right trail, following the bombs into the mountains. On the tenth day, their luck changed.

Off to the side of the caravan, Jaune saw it slow to a halt. Knowing that this meant trouble, he trotted back to the wagons, then broke into a sprint when he saw Ren approaching from his forward position. Soon, all of Team RNJR, as well as the caravan master, were assembled.

"There are armed people off to the sides of the trail," Ren reported. "Perhaps six on the left. I did not have time to scout the right hand side before I had to return to keep the caravan out of an ambush."

"Are you sure it isn't fellow travelers?" Ruby asked.

"Travelers would be on the trail, ready to talk," the caravan master told her. "We occasionally run into a prospecting party. Could this be one of them?"

"They were not digging or working," Ren told him. "And prospectors would be carrying picks and shovels, not swords and spears."

"Ambush," Nora concluded.

"I'll leave the choice up to you," Jaune told the master. "We can either escort you back to the city or fight our way through the bandits."

"There are stone-cutters two days away that are counting on these supplies," the man said. "And all of them are counting on the lien from their work. We have to get through."

"Okay, hold up here while Ren and Nora scout the group to the right of the trail. Ruby and I will stay with the caravan."

With a tight nod, Ren slipped off into the foliage to the right of the trail. Nora was right behind him. The master ordered the wagons to close up and the teamsters to take up staves and staffs to defend themselves while Jaune and Ruby slipped off of the trail and started to circle the caravan, looking for bandits who were trying to sneak in close. After two hours, Ren and Nora returned.

"Six on the right hand side," he told his teammates and their employer. "All armed. Two have bows. I didn't see any bows with the left hand group, but that doesn't mean they aren't there."

"So we have to take out the right hand side first," Ruby announced.

"Or both sides simultaneously," Ren countered. "But that would mean some risk to the caravan."

"Guys, are we getting a little ahead of ourselves," Jaune asked. "Okay, they're armed. Maybe they're here on honest business, just on their guard. Shouldn't we give them a chance to explain themselves."

"You're not from the island," the caravan master pointed out. "My caravan is known. The only folk out here are the teamsters, the quarry workers and the occasional prospector or hunter. None of them would be sitting there, waiting. These are bandits, mark my word."

"Okay, we take both sides out at the same time," Jaune decided. "Any suggestions?"

"I think it's a good time to try out my spear idea," Ruby told him. "There's going to be some risk to the caravan, but if we move fast, we can hit and be back before any reinforcements show up."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, more than a little nervous about becoming a human spear point.

"The two of us take out the right hand bunch," Ruby told him. "We use my spear idea to close in fast, before they can bring their bows into play. The left hand bunch will have to run over to support the others, so Ren and Nora can catch them on the move. We finish them off and get back to the caravan, in case there are any other bandits about or grimm to be drawn by the fight."

"I can't think of a better idea," Nora admitted.

"Especially with limited time," Ren added. "We cannot leave the caravan stationary on the trail, it becomes too tempting a target."

"Then let's do this," Jaune sighed. Noting Ruby's predatory grin, he pointed out. "These are people we're fighting. I don't think we're going to be able to take prisoners."

While Jaune didn't like how her whole bearing slumped, he wanted to make sure she understood the gravity of the situation. The younger teen sometimes got so distracted by the technical and tactical aspects of fighting that she forgot that the dozen people they were about to clash with weren't soulless grimm; they were people, every one of whom had once been a baby bouncing on a mother's knee.

Apprehension aside, Jaune forced himself to execute the simple plan. He took the lead, shield held high and trying to be as quiet as possible while Ruby followed on his heels. There was no real chance of catching their foes by surprise; he only hoped to get close enough that Ruby wasn't overly exhausted by what she had to do. It seemed to take hours, but really only took several minutes, before the sound of a released bowstring let him know that they had been spotted. He caught the arrow on his shield and was shocked when the bandits fired a precious dust round, which he also caught on his shield. Then Ruby grabbed him and the world _blurred_.

The sheer acceleration took his breath away as the six bandits seemed to suddenly explode towards him. He barely had time to get his shield and sword up before he plowed into one of the bowmen. The target had an active aura, but the impact and sword strike still sent him sprawling back into the rest of the bandits. In this tight tangle, Jaune's blade wasn't of much use but he was far from helpless. He punched with the hilt, swung his shield and used his elbow-guards as bludgeons. He thrashed his way to a kneeling position and had a moment of panic when he saw the other archer lining up to shoot him.

Before the woman could release the arrow; before Jaune could get his shield up, Ruby was there, slicing the bow in half and cutting deep into the archer's chest. Then, Jaune didn't have time to watch; the other archer was stumbling to his feet and the blonde rushed him, kicking another bandit in the groin as he rushed by. The archer's aura wasn't depleted, so Jaune's slash didn't cut the bow. It did, however knock the weapon out of line, so the arrow flew harmlessly by while Jaune pirouetted on his lead foot and landed a shield strike on the man's shoulder. Continuing to move, the student got in a thrust that pieced the aura and found a gap between the archer's ribs. Kicking the man off his blade, Jaune spun in time to catch a sword thrust with his shield.

The attacker had overextended herself, so she stumbled forward when the blow was knocked awry. She was too close for Jaune to use his own sword, but he managed to land an elbow to her jaw. Teeth flew as she suddenly dropped onto her back. Dazed, she lifted her blade into a weak guard position but one quick slash knocked the weapon out of the way so that a followup thrust took her under the sternum. Refusing to think about what he had done, Jaune scanned the area for his partner.

Of course, Ruby had already dropped the other four. The two students had a moment to catch eyes before the unmistakable sound of Stormflower's firing brought them back to reality. Anything that was serious enough for Ren to use precious dust rounds was serious indeed! The two rushed towards the sound of gunfire to assist their friends. A quick sprint through the woods revealed Nora and Ren, standing over several bodies.

"Ren, we heard you shooting!" Ruby gasped. "What happened?"

"One had a gun, and was drawing a bead on Nora," he answered, gesturing to where a man lay, a hand still clinched on a lever-action rifle. "It's done," the young man confirmed.

The aftermath of fighting grimm was rarely traumatic. Hunters occasionally sustained minor wounds and there could be some damage to property in the area. However, the grimm dissipated after death, so after the resulting clouds dispersed, there were no corpses to deal with

When fighting men, the aftermath could be just as bad as the fight. The smells of offal and blood always brought flies. Jaune couldn't understand how the bugs could swarm so quickly after a violent encounter like this. Yet, the smells of bowels and blood, the buzz of the flies and the sight of them covering the dead wasn't the worst. When man fought man, the endings weren't always clean and quick. Out here, well beyond the walls of any city, there was no way to provide proper care for the maimed. When man fought man, the cuts and crushing blows that maimed and doomed often left the victim coherent enough to realize that the end had come...with no way of avoiding it.

The two bandits Jaune had brought down bled out quickly and of the four that Ruby eliminated, two were killed immediately while the other two quickly succumbed. Of the other six, Ren had shot one several times and Nora had caved in a rib-cage. Both bandits glared at the party with grim resignation.

"I'll take care of it," Jaune told his teammates. "Go back and guard the caravan."

"I'm not some helpless little girl!" Ruby snapped in reply, even though she looked sick.

"I know," Jaune told her. "But only one of us has to do this. Besides, I need to search the bodies and that won't be pleasant."

"We're in this together," Nora told him.

"But we don't all have to go through this," Jaune countered. "I'll need someone to talk to tonight. It'll be better if we don't all have the same nightmares."

"But it is still unwise to be out here alone," Ren told him. "Ruby and Nora can get the caravan moving again. We can easily catch up once we're done..."

Nora offered a grim nod and dragged Ruby towards the waiting wagons. Once they were out of sight, Jaune approached the woman with the collapsed ribs. She simply glared at him before closing her eyes and tilting her head back. Understanding, Jaune struck quick and true. When he looked up, Ren was wiping Stormflower's blade on the last bandit's clothing. With no additional words between them, they set about searching the dead.

Forty-five minutes later, they caught up to the wagons and dumped the bandits' weapons into one of them, for the caravan master to distribute among his teamsters, if he saw fit. One of the bandits had a rifle, with only two rounds remaining. Another had a pistol with four. Jaune commented that the dust rounds they currently carried could be more valuable than a complete load of the finest marble. Nora and Ruby, on the other hand, could see that something more was bothering the two boys. Unfortunately, the caravan master was too close at hand to discuss things.

"I would suggest that you continue traveling through the night," Ren suggested to the older man. "The violence that took place will draw any grimm in the area and the four of us aren't exactly pleased about killing other people."

"I figured as much," the man grunted. "Mules don't slow down much after dark. We'll push on and be at the quarry before sunup."

Their faces solemn, Team RNJR slipped back into their escort positions. Fortunately, there were no additional attacks during the day although all four teens noted where an overgrown trail, branching off to the left of the one they were following, had been recently cleared and re-used. They chose to not discuss this at the moment.

"What happens when we reach the quarry?" Jaune asked. "If grimm are following us, it will only place more people in danger."

"Not to worry," the caravan master assured him. "It's in a box canyon and the crew has put a wooden fence across the mouth. It's not quite the walls of Gozadasi, but it keeps most of the dark creatures out."

Jaune simply nodded and continued his patrol as the sun set behind the mountains.

Even though they didn't camp, they took a break at sundown. The mules needed to be rested, fed and watered if they were going to continue. While the teamsters divided the bandits' weapons and cared for the mules, Ruby and Nora got the boys away from the caravan.

"What's bothering you two?" The orange-haired girl demanded, after checking to make sure that nobody would overhear.

"The bandits were all faunas," Ren told her.

"Were they white fang?" Ruby asked.

"We didn't find masks or those tunics we've seen them wear," Jaune told her. "But I suspect they were."

"So we're probably on the right track," Nora declared. "They've worked for Torchwick in the past."

"I still think that we are missing something," Ren told his companions. "But I see no better course than to deliver this caravan to the quarry before seeking the bombs."

The rest of the team agreed and soon they were on the trail again as the caravan struggled along the dark mountain trail. The going was very slow, as the mules were exhausted and more than a little cranky about being forced to continue to work. Several times, when Jaune allowed the caravan to move ahead of him so that he could observe the back trail, he heard the howls of grimm in the distance but none approached the wagons. He reported what he heard to the caravan master, who agreed that pushing on had been the proper course of action.

The teamsters rested the mules again at midnight, taking the opportunity to light some fires, cook a simple meal and brew some hot, bracing tea. Although the food and drink was welcome, it was the longest ninety minutes Jaune had spent since the night Beacon fell. He spent most of the time observing the back trail. Again, he heard the occasional howl or roar; but they were faint and no grimm approached. His legs felt like rubber and he was exhausted when they rolled out again, still more slowly than they had moved previously. Even Ren looked like a sleepwalker when he stumbled in from his lead position, several hours later, to report that they had arrived.

Everyone, teamster, hunter and mule, was barely on their feet during the parley. The men in the quarry had apparently been on the receiving end of some bandit attacks and weren't keen on the idea of opening their rough fence so that someone could come in after dark. It was only after the master stepped forward, into their lantern light and was recognized, that the caravan was welcomed inside. While the teamsters struggled to unhitch the mules and confine them in a makeshift corral, Jaune accompanied the caravan master to report to the head of the quarry. This man, a tall, burly man with a thick mane of dark hair named Keski, listened to their story and offered a tight nod.

"We've been stalked by bandits out here," he told them. "They showed up a few days ago. They don't mess with the quarry itself, but we've lost two men who were out gathering firewood. It's a sad day when man kills man while grimm are about, but I won't mourn the loss of those who killed mine. You're all exhausted, so bed down. We'll keep watch and wake you if there's trouble."

By now, Jaune was too tired to worry about things. He mumbled a barely coherent thanks before stumbling off in search of his companions. He found them along a cliff wall, under an overhang. It wasn't much shelter but it would keep any weather off of them. Ruby and Ren were already asleep and Nora was barely functioning. Sheer determination had kept her up until Jaune returned. Seeing him, she nodded and bedded down. Content that his team was together, he unrolled his sleeping bag and soon followed them into an exhausted sleep.

The sun was well up when he roused himself. He noted that Nora and Ruby were already up, while Ren was struggling to stay asleep despite the sounds of an active quarry and teamsters tending to their tasks. Looking at his scroll, Jaune realized that he had managed only three hours of sleep. It would have to do. Stumbling out of bed, he managed to force himself to take care of his morning routine. Soon, despite being tired, they had stuffed Nora full of pancakes and were ready to face what was left of the day. Keski soon called for the team to meet with him, along with the caravan master.

"I've been going over the weapons you took from the bandits," the quarry owner told the team. "These are sophisticated weapons; not clubs or crude spears like you'd expect from people who decided to rob others. These were well armed folks and I'm a little suspicious that the only hunters on the island just happened to escort a caravan to where these bandits were, when there were more lien to be made back in the city."

Jaune shared a look with his companions. "We're working for the kingdoms," he finally admitted, hoping that he could reveal just enough truth to satisfy the questioners while not compromising the mission. "We've been trailing a couple of very heavy objects from Mistral City. They were unloaded in Gozadasi and taken to an abandoned quarry somewhere near here." He pulled out a map and showed where the other teamsters had been hired to take the bombs.

"I know the caravan master who took on that job," the head teamster informed him. "I know when they left. They should have reached this quarry by now, looking for marble to take back to town, but they haven't shown."

"And now armed bandits are on the trail," Keski added. "This is bad, whatever those objects are." He sighed. "I understand that you won't want to tell me anything you don't absolutely have to, but I'll help you as best I can. I know these mountains and I know where that abandoned quarry is at. I'll take you there."

"That's very kind of you," Jaune thanked him.

"It's in my self interest," the man corrected. "You've already made it easier for me to conduct my business by eliminating the bandits on the trail. If I guide you to that quarry and you wind up eliminating those who took my employees that were out gathering firewood, you make it better for me again. I have a feeling that there's something very big going down and while my life might not get better if you succeed, I think it's going to be a lot worse if you fail."

Jaune hated to admit it, but if one thing could get him moving, it was a clear mission to perform. It irritated him, because it was yet another thing that the trip across Anima had changed about him. He had been a master procrastinator back when he had enrolled at Beacon. Soon, he was with his team and they were packing their belongings.

"Perhaps we should rest a day," Ren suggested.

"No," Nora insisted. "If there are any more White Fang at the abandoned quarry, they might not know the full story yet."

"We may have the element of surprise at the moment," Ruby agreed. "But every hour we wait gives them a chance to figure out what's happening."

"Maybe we can wait a bit and hit them after dark," Nora pondered.

"I disagree," Ren countered her. "The bandits were all faunas and they have night vision superior to ours. If any that remain at the quarry are also faunas, we should not give them the advantage of a night encounter."

"So we hit the trail," Ruby concluded. The rest nodded, shouldered their packs and the team strode to the quarry owner's cabin.

While Keski wasn't a hunter, he clearly wasn't too far removed from manual labor in his quarry. The man was fit, strong and acclimated to hard work at high altitude. He also knew the nearby mountains and the trails that traversed them. He knew where to cross the rushing streams, where rockfalls had made areas impassible, and where the forests allowed travel without being observed. It took a few hours' hard hiking, but by mid-afternoon the team was peeking over a ridge and into their destination.

"At least they're wearing their White Fang tunics," Jaune commented, after observing for several minutes. "That makes things easier."

"The wagons and mules from the previous caravan are present," Ren noted. "Yet I don't see the teamsters."

"If they had been released, they would have made their way to my quarry," Keski told him. "They know the way and it's the nearest settlement. The teamsters are either dead or captives."

"If they're captives, where are they being held?" Ren asked. "We cannot see them and the only structures that have roofs are that row of cabins on the east cliff face or the long building below us. Neither one is being guarded."

"That row must be where the White Fang are living," Nora suggested. Someone occasionally goes into or comes out of them."

"I worked here when I still swung a hammer more than pushing a pencil," Keski added. "Those cabins were where we workers lived and the big building below us is where we stored the wagons and large tools. You can see the raw wood that's been used to repair them."

"So why aren't the wagons in there now?" Ruby asked.

"Perhaps something else is being stored inside," Ren suggested. "Something heavy that they don't want to be disturbed if someone needs to hitch up a wagon."

The team shared a meaningful look while Keski clearly realized that they suspected something that they weren't ready to discuss in his presence. Sudden realization dawned upon Jaune and, shaking his head at his own idiocy, the pulled out his scroll and activated the tracking petition. He scowled when he detected no signal from the tracking devices Winter had placed on the bombs.

"Perhaps the lightning crystals have become depleted," Ren suggested. "Or the White Fang found them and destroyed them."

"It doesn't do any good to worry," Nora added. "We're here now and down there is what we've been tracking. Let's complete our mission."

The team agreed and the five spent the next two hours on the ridge, observing activities in the makeshift camp. They came to the conclusion that there were at least eight White Fang members present...and maybe one or two more. They also came to the conclusion that the dozen they had fought along the trail must have been from this camp, as there were more of the hybrid cabin/tents in good repair than were needed to house those actually present. Finally, with the sun moving towards the west, it was time to put what plans they had come up with into action.

With no time to come up with elaborate schemes, they followed Keski to a point above the only trail leading into the quarry. Once there, they shared a last look before plunging into danger, then jumped down to the trail and set a rapid pace towards their goal. It was a winding trail that followed a stream's course and on the second, sweeping curve, a shout sounded from somewhere ahead of them. Jaune surged into the lead position and spotted the lookout; a man standing on a low hill. He had ram's horns and was wearing a White Fang tunic. He lifted a rifle and fired at the tall, blonde man in the lead. Jaune caught the round on his shield before sharing a grim look with his companions; the fact that the man shot rather than challenge them told the team that those who were here were very hostile.

Since the trail wound around the knoll the lookout occupied, they couldn't afford to just leave him behind. He fired another round, which Jaune again caught on his shield, before Ruby spent one of her precious dust rounds on him. He didn't appear to have aura, as the single hit dropped him and he didn't re-appear. With their approach detected, the team increased their pace. Two more sweeping curves along the watercourse and the ravine they were in opened into the old quarry.

It was a scene of chaos.

Apparently, it had been a good idea to move on this location rapidly, as the White Fang present weren't prepared for an attack. Two White Fang members, one with a deer's antlers and another with a bird's feathers, rushed forward to meet the oncoming team while the remainder rushed to arm themselves. One Faunas fell to Ren's blades while Ruby cut the other one down. Turning slightly, the team set their course towards the long building they had identified earlier.

"They're after the bombs!" The shout from the assembling White Fang came as a relief, letting the team know that they had successfully tracked the devices and guessed where they were stored.

Now they were at the building. While his companions covered him, Jaune threw open the wide doors, drew Crocea Mors and rushed inside with Ren on his heels. A woman was punching desperately at a keyboard affixed to a wooden crate, but drew a rapier and dagger when the two young men approached.

"Mine!" Ren shouted to his friend, leaping forward to engage her. "Hurry Jaune! They may have a remote method of detonating these things!"

With a snarl of pure hate, the woman lunged at Ren. The student huntsman blocked and slashed in return, not willing to risk shooting his pistols this close to the bombs. Outside, Ruby and Nora had no such qualms, firing their precious, remaining ammunition at the oncoming White Fang. Taking only a moment to summon his aura for a strike, Jaune swung a two-handed blow that cut the latch off of the crate and threw the lid open. He swore at what he saw inside.

He quickly spotted the second crate and repeated his actions, only this time his curse came out as an angry roar. In pure frustration, he slashed open the side of the crate, allowing the contents to fall onto the floor. Both Ren and his opponent stared in horror as sand and scrap metal tumbled out of the crate.

Roman Torchwich had tricked them all.

* * *

 _A/N: Again, my thanks to those who have taken the time to read and comment on my little tale. The reviews really help with the motivation. Huge thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, for his beta reading assistance._


	20. Chapter 20

Ron Stoppable thanked his lucky stars that he had never had more than a passing interaction with high society before this. He then cursed his unlucky stars that he hadn't had anything more than a passing interaction with high society...it could have prepared him for this. Finally, the blonde boy came to the conclusion that previous experience or not, a high-society, gala event kind of sucked.

Okay, the clothing wasn't all that bad. The formal attire that his hostesses had acquired for him was something between a tuxedo and a suit, but it fit comfortably and wasn't overly hot to wear. Of course, Weiss had to straighten his bow tie slightly when she saw him but he hadn't done a terribly bad job of making himself presentable. At least neither Weiss, Kline nor Einsam saw any need to comment. So, step one had been handled just fine. Now he was at the tail end of handling step two and was starting to wonder if he would last the night. Step two was standing at the receiving line, as Weiss' companion for the evening, greeting the guests as they arrived.

While the number of guests was rather limited, consisting of a dozen of Atlas' most prominent families, Ron had quickly gotten tired of repeating the same statements over and over.

"Stoppable, Ronald Stoppable."

"No, it isn't an Atlesian name."

"Actually, I'm not from any of the kingdoms."

"I'm a refugee and the Schnee family was kind enough to provide me with a place to stay."

"I'm attending classes at the academy."

"It would be best if I didn't try to describe my home."

It wasn't that he hated saying these things; after all, most of the people were kindly enough, it was that he had to repeat all of them over and over. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he noted that Weiss and Einsam were either outstanding actresses or were honestly enjoying this. They joked with and embraced some people and were coldly formal with others. As always, the gist of their conversation was 'I'm so glad you could make it this evening'. At least Ron's behavior was a little simplified; since he wasn't familiar with anyone, strict 'politely formal' was the way to treat everyone.

There was an exception to Weiss and Einsam's geniality. Towards the end of the line, a middle-aged couple, with their teenage son, approached. The couple was all stiff propriety, acting kindly and somewhat familiar, yet Ron noted a certain tension in their manner when they exchanged greetings with the matriarch. Their son, Oskar Muller, looked very tense as he approached. While Einsam greeted him warmly, Weiss was very tense. Still, she embraced him and greeted him warmly. After he passed into the home, Weiss had a bit of a set to her jaw. Mentally, Ron shrugged. She must have some history with the young man, but it probably wasn't hostile. If she felt like talking later, she would. His musings quickly gave way to happiness when he saw the last two arrivals.

"Flynt! Neon!" He greeted the last to show up. The two academy students were in their school uniforms.

"Whoa, Ron!" Flynt Coal greeted his friend and teammate. "Looking sharp!"

"Aw, you know the score," Ron shrugged. "They just put the awkward guy in a suit so they look more graceful by comparison."

Ron wasn't surprised when he caught a sudden elbow in his ribs. He _was_ surprised when the looked to the side and saw that it was Einsam, rather than Weiss, who had delivered it. The Schnee matron had a partially irritated, but mostly amused look on her face.

"Kline," the elder Schnee addressed the ever-present, but strangely just out of sight, servant. "I believe that we are short one guest at this time."

"Indeed, madame," he noted. "General Ironwood sent word that his duties prevented him from arriving during the reception. I took the liberty of assuring him that whenever he could arrive would be acceptable."

"Very well," Einsam nodded. "I suppose that the security of Atlas takes precedence over our event...so long as the general doesn't make a habit of this. Are the guests in the grand hall?"

"Sampling the beverages, hors d'oeuvres, and the music," Kline confirmed.

"Excellent," the matron nodded. "I believe that it is time to make the larger of the two announcements of the evening." She claimed Ron's arm and smirked slightly at her daughter. "I have my escort to the balcony, you will simply have to make due." She looked to the young man and instructed him. "To the balcony."

With a poorly concealed grin, Weiss grabbed Flynt's arm and Neon grabbed his other.

"Now _this_ is a pretty sweet gig," Ron heard the young man comment, as the trio followed him and Einsam towards the grand balcony.

"I have the better duty," Ron quipped over his shoulder.

"Mr. Stoppable," Einsam chided him. "It's hardly polite to speak your pleasant lies during a formal event."

"Sorry," he apologized.

"Just so long as no guests hear you," she allowed the ghost of a smile to flit across her mouth.

"I smell shrimp!" Neon's voice practically squealed with excitement, as they approached the balcony.

"Calm down," Flynt chided her. "There will still be plenty when we get there."

"I know," she replied. "But...SHRIMP!"

Now smiling widely, Ron delivered the matron to the balcony. There, she gestured for Neon and Flynt to join the other guests while Weiss and Ron remained with her. Seeing her overlooking the gathering, some servers discretely motioned for the musicians to halt. Well-practiced, they finished their current song and set up their instruments. The low buzz of conversation was now clearly audible, which faded away when Einsam stepped to the railing.

"Dear guests," she addressed the crowd, while cleverly hidden microphones amplified her voice. "Thank you so much for taking the time to join us this evening."

A murmur of return thanks answered her.

"All of us know each other," she commented. "Our families have been allies and rivals, partners and competitors. We have given each other good wishes...while sometimes cursing each other in our minds."

Polite, yet genuine, laughter followed this moment.

"Yet, in the end, we share our important moments with each other," she continued. "As many of you know, the Schnee Family and the Schnee Dust Company has recently experienced a great deal of turmoil. We have overcome it...or perhaps I should say that we are still overcoming these challenges. However, I overlooked an important detail during these trials; I failed to share these events with you, the peers with whom we have traveled through the decades."

The guests gained a bit of an expectant look on their faces.

"My dear daughter, Weiss, was attending Beacon Academy during the horrific events that took place," Einsam announced to the crowd. "To my great shame, I have never properly expressed the pride I felt when she did not seek her own safety, but stood shoulder to shoulder with upper class and lower; with soldier and student, with fellow Atlesian, Valite, Vacuain, Mistralean and those from beyond the kingdoms as they defended Vale and the civilians within it." She turned and faced her daughter, her lip quivering slightly. "I'm so proud to call you my daughter."

Weiss' breath hitched slightly and she caught Ron's arm for support.

"However, that brings up another duty which I waited far too long to perform," Einsam continued. "For too long, my company skirted the edge of morality and even legality. My daughter would not accept this and upon her return to Atlas, she forced me to see what I had allowed to become of both my legacy and my own life. At that time, I placed her in control of the company but I did not make the proud, grateful announcement that I should have. So tonight, dear friends, it is my honor to present to you my daughter, Weiss Schnee, the CEO and heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

There was loud applause from floor and a tear in the corner of Weiss' eye as she strode to the front of the balcony. Her mother had recited the announcement to her previously, but the declaration of pride had caught the heiress completely by surprise. Still, she was a Schnee with all of the strengths and contradictions that the name implied.

"Thank you," she told the assembled guests. "Thank you for the recognition of me taking on a job so much more difficult than I ever thought it could be. Fortunately, I have good people helping me with this task." She picked out the board members, who were among the guests, and gave each a warm smile...even those who opposed her.

"These are troubled times on Remnant," she continued. "As I'm sure you're all aware. While our kingdom remains strong, I'd like to remind everyone that the strongest pillar can be worn down or undermined. It is up to us, and our sense of community within ourselves, our fellow Atlesians, and our fellows throughout Remnant, to see us through these trying times and to better days ahead. But for tonight, please, let us all enjoy the company, the hospitality and the entertainment my dear mother has provided...and thank you all again."

The applause was slightly louder this time. Ron, as he had been coached to do, stepped forward, offered Weiss his arm and escorted her down the stairs to mingle with the guests.

"I will have another announcement to make later," Einsam informed the crowd, while Weiss introduced Ron to some of the board members. "But that will be after dinner. In the meantime, please, enjoy yourselves."

While accompanying Weiss through her initial 'mingle-pass', Ron was relieved to see Neon and Flynt return to the top of the stairs to escort Einsam, one student on each arm, down to the crowd. The middle-aged woman appeared both charmed and pleased with the development and soon she to was engaging in polite conversations with the guests. The musicians took up their instruments again, and Ron noted that the pleasant music produced enough background noise that you couldn't overhear conversations from more than a couple of feet away. He actually managed to control himself when it came to the hors d'oeuvres, something that he attributed more to the two sandwiches he had eaten before the guests arrived than to any willpower.

Sidekick work had taught him to be prepared.

His smile faded, thinking about home. Had Kim gotten clear of Dementor's lair? Had his messages gotten through? If so, had Kim let his parents know that he was alive. Did Hana remember him? Was Rufus well? His friends, those handful of people he cared so much about, were they doing well? Did anyone ever think of him?

"Hey, no long faces at the party," Weiss gently elbowed him.

"Sorry," he told her. "It's just...I don't know anything about home."

"I understand," she assured him. "If you don't want to stay, I understand but please, try to enjoy yourself. Worrying about it won't help things."

"I'll try," he assured her.

"Good," she nodded. "Now, you've accompanied me through the initial rush, so why don't you mingle some on your own. We'll get back together before dinner."

"As you command," he graciously agreed, and was awarded by one of her rare, genuine smiles for his antics.

For the next hour or so, he divided his time between speaking to people and helping Flynt reign in Neon's baser urges towards the seafood-based hors d'oeuvres. At some point, General Ironwood arrived, looking striking in his Mess Whites. Of course, Ron had to accompany both Weiss and Einsam in greeting the man and welcoming him to the event. After that, Ron spent more time listening than talking. While he had never mastered the Yamanouchi skill of vanishing from sight, he had mastered the art of becoming socially beneath notice. As such, he was able to hear some conversations that he probably wasn't supposed to.

He learned that he was a bit of a mystery and that speculation about his relationship with Weiss...and with Einsam...was a popular topic among the upper class families. There were also a few families, some present at the party, who resented him because they were hoping to marry a son off to the heiress. To his surprise, most of the families, both present and discussed in the third person, didn't have ulterior motives; it was simply a known fact to them that the upper classes should marry within their clique. Ron could understand this, as before he and Kim had gotten together, his mother had often tried to get him to date within his faith.

There was also a great deal of speculation about Whitley's absence. However, both Weiss and Einsam simply stated that he was not available, as he was performing a series of apprenticeships in order to better prepare him for his adult life within the company. While everyone who received this answer responded by stating that it was a wonderful idea, the conversations that followed, out of the Schnee women's hearing, were quite different. The upper classes were far from foolish; they knew that the Schnee family had suffered internal dissent and speculated if Whitley was performing these apprenticeships, Einsam was either punishing the boy, preparing to exile him from the family or even grooming him to take over the company when she exiled Weiss.

Ron noted that Oskar Mueller was making his way towards Weiss, while she wasn't engaged in conversation with anyone else. Both Oskar and Weiss had seemed to be preparing for an interaction that they really didn't want to have, but that they needed to get out of the way. Ron was torn between listening in to the conversation and giving his good friend her privacy when Einsam, after a discrete whisper from Kline, informed the guests that dinner was ready to be served.

Some customs on Remnant were very similar to customs on Earth. Ron found his way to Weiss and offered his arm while General Ironwood, an unattached male, offered his to Einsam. All of the guests made their way to the formal dining room while servers gently guided them to their assigned seating. Soon, all were standing near their chairs and Einsam asked for all to be seated. Custom dictated that the gentleman seat the lady and again, General Ironwood seated Einsam while Ron seated Weiss. Einsam of course sat at the center of the main table while Weiss, her official heiress, sat to her right. General Ironwood, the guest of honor, sat to the matron's left. Ron sat on Weiss' right side, a position that Ron appreciated. As Weiss was left handed while he was right handed, on those occasions when they dined while the positions were reversed, they found themselves spending most of the meal elbow-fencing against each other.

The food was delicious and Ron had to concentrate on his manners, fighting the temptation to simply shovel the food in. Weiss was watching him discretely, but closely, ready to provide a quick nudge if his etiquette started to slip. However, he remained strong, chatting up nearby guests and eating at a proper rate...much to Weiss' masked amazement. Ron mentally patted himself on the back for eating those sandwiches before the event.

The courses came and went with Ron managing to avoid any noticeable faux pas, much to Weiss' shock and growing annoyance. Finally, the desert course was served and consumed and the low hum of conversation grew as the guests didn't have food to put in their mouths. Kline appeared and whispered in Einsam's ear, apparently letting her know that her guests were finished with their meals. She pushed herself slightly back from the table, which prompted General Ironwood to get to his feet and assist her with the chair. The officer offered his arm for her to rise to her feet. Seeing the hostess standing, the buzz of conversation died down.

"My guests," she announced. "As we are all finished dining, could I suggest that we return to the hall for another announcement?"

There was a rustle of sliding chairs, as gentlemen rose and offered arms to the ladies. Ron, of course, offered his arm to Weiss and the two followed Einsam and General Ironwood out of the dining room and back to the grand hall. The servants had been busy and under Kline's watchful eye had arranged an open dance space surrounded by chairs. Einsam and Ironwood, followed by Ron and Weiss and then by Neon and Flynt, walked to the center of the floor while the guests gathered around.

"These are troubled times," Einsam announced to the gathered guests. "And even we in Atlas are not immune. Grimm are gathering at the fringes of our fair kingdom and many outlying communities remain deserted, as they have since the great war. Our military is still rebuilding from the losses suffered in Vale and must be prepared to move against the foe that struck this other kingdom. For this reason, the Schnee Family and the Schnee Dust Company have chosen to sponsor an apprentice hunter team. When grimm grow too bold on the fringes of this kingdom, or anywhere on the world, this team will stand ready to act. I feel a great deal of satisfaction at this moment to present to you the rebirth of Team FNKY, as Team FNWR. First, the team leader, Flynt Coal."

Flynt stepped forward and offered a half-bow, half-nod.

"Next, Neon Katt."

Neon stepped forward and performed a pirouette.

"Next, my own daughter, Weiss Schnee."

Weiss stepped forward and curtsied with all the grace that a lifetime of etiquette training can provide.

"And finally, but not the least, the young refugee we have taken in, Ronald Stoppable."

Ron stepped forward and bowed, hoping he came off as more sincere than clumsy.

"These young people have volunteered to put their skills and training in harm's way for the good of our kingdom and world," Einsam informed the assembled guests. "And the Schnee Family and Dust Company will support them as they do so."

The guests offered polite applause.

"Now," Einsam told everyone. "The announcements are finished but the night is still young. Why don't we enjoy ourselves?"

Taking this as their cue, the musicians immediately struck up a waltz. General Ironwood offered his hand to Einsam, Ron offered his to Weiss and Flynt offered his to Neon. As he danced with the petite blonde, Ron noted that most of the married couples found their way to the floor. He was glad that both Einsam and Weiss had practiced with him, as he was sure he would have endangered people without some rehearsal. As it was, he enjoyed himself and Weiss seemed to as well, although he preferred dancing with her when it was just the two of them, out on the lawn in the moonlight.

When the first song finished, Weiss clearly wanted another dance, so they stayed on the floor. This time, Weiss slid a little closer to them and he understood; with the prominent families assuming that the two of them were involved and her not interested in romance, confirming to everyone that she and he were something more than friends would cut down on the unwelcome...suggestions.

For the third song, Einsam wanted a turn around the floor with him and after that, he took her to a padded chair where she could rest a bit and speak with some of her guests. Ron decided that it was a good time to become socially obscure again and listen more than speak. While a couple of the folks in at the event seemed to be the snobbish type, most were just...folks. They spoke with each other about work and family, about events in the past and hopes for the future.

After several minutes, Einsam got up and wandered out to one of the balconies that overlooked the formal gardens. On a whim, Ron wandered in that direction, as well. The cool night air felt good on his face, which was probably why Einsam and the several guests who had preceded her to this locale were here. Standing casually in the shadows, Ron watched and listened as a server brought several drinks to the guests...and lemonade for the hostess. When Einsam saw some odd expressions at this, she freely admitted that she had let the bottle get a grip on her, rather than the other way around. Ron felt an incredible surge of admiration for this woman and couldn't help but smile when one of the gentlemen, who owned a large, manufacturing plant, set down his glass. When Einsam assured him that she took no offense to others having a drink or two, he stated that it really was a silly habit, now that he thought of it. Happy for his hostess, he slipped back inside.

Picking up Atlas' version of a cola, he studied another of the Schnee family portraits while continuing to listen to the conversations. He frowned a bit, as this group were talking about Neon. While one voice sounded completely bigoted against her, even going so far as to question why Einsam would allow 'one of those' in the house for the event, the others were more sympathetic. Still, even the sympathetic voices were condescending, acting like Neon was handicapped or something. Deciding that he was in no way prepared to argue with someone over something like this, he set his face and continued to look at the portrait.

"An interesting family," Flynt's voice sounded next to him.

"I notice they aren't big on smiling," Ron commented. "I've never met Winter or Jacques, and Whitley seems a manipulative little pest, but both Einsam and Weiss are nice people...once you get to know them."

"I dig that," Flynt nodded. "But looking at that picture makes me wonder if any of them have ever done something just for the fun of it." He gave Ron a pointed look. "I kinda wonder why you've been checking it out for so long, since you've been living here for weeks."

Ron glanced around, making sure that the people he had been listening to had left the area. "I was kind of listening in to the opinions the upper classes have about...well...a lot of things."

"They don't much dig Neon, do they?"

Ron couldn't keep the surprised expression from his face.

"We both know the score," Flynt told him, smirking at Ron's shock. "The high-brows don't much like a working class student with them and they sure don't like a faunas in here. Do you really think that Neon can't control herself around shrimp? Nah, she's just rubbing it in that she's a faunas."

"You know, not everyone seems to have a problem," Ron pointed out.

"Yeah, I dig it," Flynt admitted. "But they sure don't speak up when the other ones start making some sour notes."

"They don't much like me, either," Ron told him.

"The upper classes live at the top of their ivory tower," Flynt hold him. "And even the lower classes in Atlas live in the ivory tower. You're from outside the tower and now you're living at the top, someplace the high-brows think should be just for them."

"You don't seem to care for the Atlas attitude," Ron noted. By now, the two had found a deserted balcony and were looking down at the guests.

"I had it for awhile," Flynt shrugged. "The only times I've been out of the kingdom have been our missions outside the walls and the Vytal Tournament. I always thought that Atlas was a cut above everyone else but when I had a chance to rub shoulders with folks from the other kingdoms, I learned that attitude was off-key. I'm hoping I get to work some more gigs around Remnant and get to meet some more folks."

Ron actually smiled at this, remembering how many times he had crisscrossed Earth at even his young age.

"Well, I think I'd better head down and mingle some more," Flynt decided. "Let these fine folks see that a working class student actually has a brain. It's probably pass time that you checked on your date for the evening."

"I'm just her companion," Ron pointed out.

Flynt just smirked at him and wandered off.

Rather than rejoin the party, Ron chose to stand on the quiet balcony and observe the hostesses, guests and servants. In reality, he was thinking of his situation. He was out of place, and for more than being in the wrong universe. This upper-crust situation he had, quite literally, fallen into wasn't him. Despite the fact that he helped guard the Schnee Estate, despite the fact that he helped Weiss unwind by sparring and joking, he was living on charity. The queen sized bed in the luxurious guest suite was wonderful, but he actually missed the cheap, dormitory twin bed from college and his similar bed at his parents' house. Being served meals was nice, but he actually missed cooking for himself and washing the dishes. He missed cleaning his room...when navigation became difficult. He missed the efforts of preparing himself for a future, a future with..."

He heaved a sigh. He missed Kim more than he missed his parents, sister, teammates and other friends combined. After all this time, there still was a huge question mark if Atlas' greatest efforts could open the portal to his reality. Of course, he had considered the possibility of being stranded here for the rest of his life but somehow this party, showing how different he was from the Schnees and their peers, drove it home.

He didn't belong here and he didn't belong _**here**_.

If it became obvious that he wouldn't be able to find his way home, he would need to leave the Schnee Estate. This wasn't his life, on Remnant or on Earth.

"A celebration such as this is usually not conducive to deep thoughts," a familiar voice sounded from his side. Ron looked up to see General Ironwood approaching. The big man stood next to him, leaning on the rail much like the younger. "Yet I can recognize when a young man is thinking about more than the food, music and company."

Ron didn't see any reason to answer or comment.

"Do you mind telling me what's troubling you so much?"

"Headmaster," he replied after a moment's thought, using the title he thought best described who he wanted to talk to. "Am I really a blue-chip asset?"

"Blue chip?" The general asked.

"Er..am I really a powerful asset, one that can make a big difference?"

"Potentially," Ironwood told him. "And I don't mean as in every child has potential. I mean you are currently a match for most elite, senior student hunters...and you've barely begun to master your aura. As you continue to master it, and combine it with your previous training and your...Mystical Monkey Power...you could potentially become one of the most powerful huntsmen on Remnant."

"Potentially?"

"The hunters' paradox," James Ironwood informed him. "While the various academies can provide excellent training, we cannot cover every contingency that a young hunter will experience. The only thing that can prepare the hunter for these contingencies is experience and experience can prove fatal."

Ron nodded his understanding.

"Take Weiss Schnee, for example," the general continued. "Her parents provided her the absolute best instruction available. When she entered Beacon Academy, she had excellent form and flawless execution...but she had never actually fought a person or creature attempting to kill her. Fortunately, she has survived her first encounters and has become stronger because of it. But to this day, if she were to face an elite hunter or...someone on the other side, she would fall."

"This takes me to why I say you could potentially become one of the most powerful huntsmen on Remnant," he concluded. "You have the tools so it's a matter of practice, repetition and experience. It goes well beyond combat ability. You must learn how to conduct yourself, how to be prepared at all times and how to work as a member of a team."

"A long way to go," Ron murmured.

"In a way." Ironwood fixed him with a piercing look. "The most effective way we have of training our new hunters is to first teach them basic combat skills. After that, we select those with the ability and drive to become hunters and awaken their aura, which heralds basic aura use. Then, we continue training, teaching the apprentice to mix aura and combat skill. You are odd."

"On Remnant and Earth," Ron grumbled.

"Your mastery of aura is in its infancy," James continued, ignoring the interruption. "Yet your Mystical Monkey Power compensates for that. Your weapons skills are roughly average for someone of your age, but your field experience and teamwork are far advanced. Once you master your aura, your weapons and learn your semblance, you will be formidable."

"And useful?" Ron prompted.

Rather than answer, Ironwood gave the younger man a curious look, head cocked to one side, for several, uncomfortable seconds. Suddenly, his eyes widened and a knowing expression settled onto his face.

"So you question your ability to provide a return on the investment various organizations have made on your growth," the general noted. "This sort of self doubt is to be commended, then discarded. Atlas academy exists to hone potential excellence into reality. I can also assure you that Miss Schnee is a much better CEO and huntress due to your friendship and support."

"But what if we're able to get me back home?" Ron asked. "There's a lot of effort there, and you'll be out any benefit of me being a huntsmen...when I finally become useful."

"If we open the portal to your reality, it will mean that we can trade knowledge with your world. The benefits of such an exchange will prove much more valuable than even a team of the greatest huntsmen of all time."

"If those nukes don't wipe out a kingdom or two," Ron sighed.

"We continue to track the devices," Ironwood assured him. "Should they be seized and disarmed, I will contact you immdeiatel...excuse me."

A chime sounded from inside the general's jacket. He pulled out his scroll and stepped away from the younger man so that he could answer his call with some privacy. Ron pointedly returned to observing the attendees. After several minutes, the general returned.

"I'm afraid that I won't be able to attend this event any longer," he told Ron. "Mr. Stoppable, while I cannot say that I will be at your immediate disposal should you question your worth in the future, I urge you to speak with your instructor. He well knows your capabilities and potential. In the meantime, duty calls."

"If you want, I can let Weiss and Einsam know," Ron offered. "I'm probably overdue for mingling anyway."

"My thanks," Ironwood nodded. "Now, I must be going."

The general left at a somewhat hurried pace. Ron made a note of the time and promised himself to check Pelz's recordings of the Ironwood's office for news that might have prompted the general to leave so abruptly. Squaring his shoulders, he went off in search of the Schnee ladies.

He found Einsam near a refreshment table, speaking with two couples roughly the same age as her. "...while I wish to keep the exact details private, Jaucques' operations proved to be too morally compromised to be acceptable," she was telling her four peers. "I did not intend to eject him from the family, but when I displaced him as the CEO, he found his situation here unacceptable. Ah, Ronald! Did you wish to speak to me?"

"Yes, Madame Schnee," Ron struggled to remember the etiquette lessons. "General Ironwood was called away. I offered to inform you so that he could respond immediately."

"What would draw him away from a social event of this significance?" One of the ladies with Einsam demanded.

"I am hardly a person that the good general would confide...classified...information to," Ron knew most grammar teachers would smack him for his choice of words. "But he assured me that it was of utmost importance. I chose not to pry."

"Quite right," Einsam nodded at him. The two men and one of the women in Einsam's little group seemed to approve, as well. "Where were you off to next?"

"I intended to inform Miss Weiss of the situation." Ron was starting to feel a little more comfortable.

"Oh, a guest acting as an errand runner?" The woman who had questioned Ron now arched her eyebrow and Ron sensed that both he and Einsam had taken a minor hit.

"Are we all not servants to our kingdom?" The other woman in the group asked. "Young...Mr. Stoppable is it? Simply wished to speed the general on his way while informing our generous hostesses about the situation."

"Quite so," Einsam gave this woman a friendly smile and nod...and the first lady a bit of the hairy eyeball out of the corner of her eye. "Please do so, Ronald and if it isn't too much trouble, get my daughter out on the dance floor again. The two of you look good together."

"Thank you, Madame Schnee," Ron offered a slight bow. "Ladies, gentlemen..." He then went off on his errand, hoping that he hadn't made too much of a fool of himself...and the Schnee ladies.

He found Weiss as she was talking to a couple of young women. As they seemed to be having an enjoyable conversation, he made himself scarce, hoping that Weiss was forming additional friendships. When small group broke up, he intended to have a word with Weiss, but Oskar Muller suddenly appeared. Again, Weiss adopted a strange posture; not one of dislike but one of...tension.

"Oskar," she greeted him.

"Weiss," he replied, offering a slight bow. Ron noted that he also had a strange expression...like he both wanted to talk to her but also wanted to get the conversation finished with as soon as possible.

Eavesdropping wasn't nice, but Ron decided that his duties included helping Weiss to burn off frustration...by either pounding on him or running the conditioning course with him. Doing this required him to know if she was frustrated, so he tiptoed along his moral compass and decided that it was his duty to find out why she was tense around Oskar. He dialed up his best 'socially insignificant' manner and...well...eavesdropped.

"It's...good to see that you...got back from Beacon safely," the young man said.

"Thank you," there was definite tension in Weiss' voice when she replied.

"Did you enjoy your time there?" He asked, and there was honest curiosity mixed with the tension.

"I did," she replied, now slightly more relaxed. "I met new people, who opened my eyes a great deal. I learned a great deal and even though some of the experiences weren't pleasant, I'm glad I had them." She paused a moment. "How have your studies been going?"

"Well." He assured her. "My studies match me well. I'm happy to hear that yours are to your liking."

The two looked at each other, the moment awkward. Finally...

"I'm sorry if..." they both said at the same time.

"You first," Weiss instructed him in the silence that followed. "You're the guest."

"I'm sorry if I came across as something I wasn't," he told her. "I understand if you regret...but I want you to know that I don't."

"I don't regret it," she assured him. "Even if it wasn't what we thought. We were younger then."

"But you've grown so much more than I have in the meantime," he shook his head in admiration. "In a way, it's ironic."

"In a way," she agreed. "I've become what I refused to be."

"No," he shook his head slightly. "You're doing what you know to be right, even if what we did was wrong."

"Wrong," she thought about the word. "Maybe it was, but it wasn't...malicious. It was ignorant. Fortunately, there weren't any consequences."

"At least no physical ones," Oskar told her. "Be well, Weiss. I'm glad that you've moved on."

"And you, Oskar," there was genuine warmth in her voice when she said this. "I hope life turns out to be what you've been working towards."

They smiled, sadly as he walked away. Ron counted to fifty before he approached his friend.

"Ah, there you are!" He declared. "I was looking for you."

"You are a horrible liar," she told him. "But I trust you will maintain some discretion about that conversation."

"That won't be hard," he assured her. "I had no idea what you were talking about. There was an awful lot of non-verbal communication that I couldn't understand."

"Just as well," she informed him. "Now, was there a reason you wanted to find me, or were you strictly eavesdropping?"

"General Ironwood had to leave," he told her. "I have already told your mother and she asked me to inform you and to get you out on the dance floor."

She reached out and took his hand. "THAT is something I don't mind." She managed to steer him towards the dance floor while appearing to not be directing his movements. "So, aren't you going to ask me about that scene?"

"I'm guessing you'll talk if and when you feel like it."

"You have that right."

Ron knew the expression; she wanted to talk to someone but wasn't really ready to. He shrugged, it was a very familiar mixture of boldness and vulnerability that he felt honored to support. However, they were now at the dance floor and it was time to be seen. He had once said that he was a bon-diggity dancer. Okay, he really meant that he was unrestrained by trying to act cool. Here, he was perfectly content to follow the scripted and expected steps. Let the Atlas upper crust see them perfectly in synch. Someday, he'd get her onto a dance floor and they'd wow everyone with their energy and grace.

He momentarily froze, wondering why he thought that. He didn't belong here and he didn't belong _**here**_.

Fortunately, his partner got him moving again before it turned into a faux pas. While she continued to smile, her glare let him know that this almost gaffe in public would not be tolerated. As expected, she kept him on the floor for another dance, insisting that he put in a flawless exhibition to take away the taint of the almost failure. After that, she discretely nudged him towards one of the guests of about their age and he got the hint, as a resident of the Schnee mansion, he would simply have to be sociable and charming...or else.

His dance ticket was pretty full for the next couple of hours; the Atlas upper crust had one thing in common with people he knew, they were curious. Ron realized that he was already...different, with his Earth facial features but he was also a bit of a mystery and several people who struck up conversations or danced with him tried to get some information out of him. As the evening wore on and more alcohol was consumed, the attempts became more blatant. Finally, when the guests started to call it a night and trickle out, his dance schedule started to get openings and he wasn't being bombarded by questions. Eventually, after midnight, the last of the evening's guests made their exit, leaving Ron with Weiss and a very tired, but satisfied, Einsam.

The three seated themselves around a table while servants attended to the furnishings, dishes, leftover food and other party detritus. While Einsam produced her scroll and recorded some thoughts for the evening, she eventually addressed the two teenagers.

"Well, it wasn't perfect," the matron admitted. "But it went quite well. We opened our doors to our peers, made our announcements and revealed some slightly embarrassing secrets. That should take care of the gossip for the next several weeks, allowing us to solidify our position and free the two of you up to continue your studies with a minimum of interference."

"We also learned that Ron needs some instructions in proper etiquette," Weiss sniffed.

"Oh?" Her mother prompted.

"I'll work that out with him myself," Weiss informed the older Schnee, her voice firm. "However, it is getting late so it can wait until tomor..."

The sound of her and her mother's scrolls buzzing at the same time interrupted her.

"Madame and Miss Schnee," Kline's voice sounded over the devices. "There's an incident at the main gate that I believe requires your presence."

"On our way, Kline," Weiss immediately answered him. Einsam waved for the two of them to go ahead; she would follow at a more sedate pace.

Ron allowed Weiss to take a slight lead; she was the heiress while he was merely backup. Once at the main gate, the two teens gasped at the sight of Kline confronting...

"Father?" Weiss gasped. "And Whitley?"

The older man and younger boy both looked at the heiress. Weiss forced her feet to obey her will, striding purposefully up to the gate. She _would not_ be intimidated here!

"Well, it seems that my daughter is at least Schnee enough to come face whomever is at the gate!" Jacques sneered at Weiss. "Did you bring your little weapon or are you willing to face your father unarmed?"

"I'm never unarmed," she retorted. "I am a huntress. The question is, do you wish to discuss your business or do you feel the need to backhand anyone who disagrees with you?"

"I wish to speak to your mother," he told her. Then, with supreme sarcasm added, "may I come in?"

"That is up to mother to decide," Weiss grated out. "Until she gets here, both of you can wait on the other side of the fence."

"Isn't that just a little petty?" He sneered. Then, his gaze fell on Ron. "Oh, so this is the young man you've dragged into the estate! Where did you find him, in Vale or in some village? Whitley tells me you've put in up in our...well, I guess it's _your_ now...best guest suite. Tell me, is _this_ the best that your feminine wiles could bring home with you? And are they so weak that you need to keep him in luxury to keep him?"

"Ron's presence, and the role he plays, are none of your business," Weiss growled.

"Oh, but they are!" He smirked back. "I may be tossed out of the company that I expanded, I may be tossed out of the house that I helped fund and the family I founded, but I can still be concerned. You may be an adult now, but you're still my daughter. Shouldn't I wonder when you take up with the likes of...this?"

"Even if I had _taken up_ with him, as you so delicately put it," Weiss' voice was a carefully controlled snarl, and her eyes had lowered to slits. "Does it bother you so much that I took up with someone of _my_ choosing, and not someone that you carefully herded me towards?"

" _I_ herded you towards?" Now, Jacques' voice was triumphant. "That was your mother's idea, back when she could think about something other than how to get the cork out of the latest wine bottle." He suddenly turned towards Ron. "What about you? What kind of man stands back and lets a lady do his fighting for him? I've insulted you twice and you seem ready to let her do the talking. Are you an idiot or a coward?"

For a moment, Ron couldn't think to say anything. Suddenly, a bit of remembered trivia popped into his mind. "Never argue with a fool," he quoted. "He'll drag you down to his level and beat you with superior experience." (1)

"Oh, so now the monkey speaks!" Jacques sneered again, but the angry flash in his eyes told Ron that he had scored a hit...and had turned someone who had casually disliked him into an enemy.

"That's quite enough, Jacques," Einsam declared, now approaching the gate. "I do not know your game, but showing up to _my_ door and insulting _my_ daughter and guest is hardly a good start to a civil conversation. What do you want?"

"I want my rightful place as the man who expanded your company to the size that it is today," he growled at his estranged wife. "However, I know that won't happen, my usefulness in that regard apparently ended. However, I am here to return our son to you."

"Father!" Whitley, who had stood meekly behind his father during the exchange, suddenly gasped. Weiss felt an incredible sense of satisfaction seeing the look of betrayal on her brother's face.

"I understand that you started the young man on a series of apprenticeships," the patriarch announced. "That's actually a very good idea, what bottle did it pour out of?"

"So incredibly witty," Einsam rolled her eyes. "So tell me, why is he here now, with you?"

"He wasn't happy with the situation," Jacques told her. "So he took the opportunity to run away from the louts you had keeping an eye on him and came to me. Well, I'm hardly going to turn my own son away from my home but I have to admit that this was an excellent way to prepare him to take over the company. I've brought him back here so that I can turn him over to you and know that he won't just run away again."

"But father!" Whitley protested again. "You promised to train me to be a businessman like you!"

"I'm going to train you to be a better businessman than me," he assured his son, his voice now much more reasonable. "These apprenticeships may be difficult, but they'll give you a greater insight into the company's operations. You can contact me whenever you wish, but this is the best education you can get, at the moment. The only thing that you must remember is to take everything these two harpies say with a grain of salt."

Weiss could see the emotions fighting behind Whitley's face. The boy was clearly debating defying his father, but that would leave completely homeless. "Very well," he finally said. "If father says that it is wise, I shall do it."

"Very well," Einsam nodded. "Kline, open the gate. Whitley, you will go directly to your room. I will arrange to have you transported back to your current job in the morning." She then looked directly at her former husband. "Weiss, Ron, should Jacques attempt to enter, do see just how far you can throw him back into the street.

While Jacques glared at the two teens, he didn't seem ready to confront them physically. Instead, he and Einsam locked stares with each other while Whitley walked, shoulders slumped, towards the mansion. When the boy was away, Einsam finally spoke further.

"I thank you for returning our son," she told him, strictly formal. "We've...had our differences, but you always did look out for our children. Even if the path you chose for them wasn't what they wanted."

"I looked for the good of the family," he told her, his voice a little more gentle than when he had addressed Weiss. "I hope you can realize that."

"Your interpretation of the good of the family," Einsam countered him. "We could argue this for hours, but the middle of the night doesn't seem to the be most opportune time."

"True," he sighed. "I guess this will be argued in courtrooms with our attorneys present."

"Such is situation we're in," she sighed back. "Be well, Jacques."

"And yourself," he offered a short nod before turning and walking to an expensive-looking, luxury car.

"I believe I shall retire," Einsam announced, once he had driven off. "Kline, could you be a dear and see me to my room?"

"Of course, madame."

"I'll trust the two of you to retire when you see fit," she told the two teens. "This has been a most trying end to the day."

"That it has, mother," Weiss embraced the older woman as a way of saying good night. When the matron left, Weiss turned to Ron. "Now is a very good time to talk about your eavesdropping," she told him in an arch voice. "As well as apologize for my father's words."

"They weren't your words," Ron pointed out. "So you don't need to apologize...I do. I shouldn't have been listening."

"But you're going to get the explanation," she told him, leading him towards one of the mansion's many balconies. "A year before I attended Beacon, my parents started to spend a great deal of time with the Mullers. At least twice a week, we either called on them or they called on us. Of course, the adults always spent their time together, leaving us teenagers to find our own diversions."

She snorted a bitter laugh. "Idiots, we should have realized that they were putting us together, hoping we'd develop an interest in each other. In a way, it worked."

By now, the duo was on the balcony, overlooking the front yard. Weiss turned her back on the moonlit grass and shrubbery and leaned back against the rail. "We went on dates," she continued. "We went to ballets, operas and had wonderful dinners at the finest restaurants. When our parents visited each other, of course the host teen offered to entertain the visiting teen. While their mansion isn't as large as ours, both had plenty of space where teenagers who grew up in them knew they could avoid everyone, allowing some experimentation."

She smiled at these memories, but the smile turned sad. "We thought that we were defying our parents," she shook her head. "Oh, I do not doubt that they would have been upset at what we were doing but in the end, I think that we were too young and naive to realize that we were...in a more general way...doing what they wanted us to do."

"Then came the evening when the pillow talk turned to the future," she frowned at this memory. "He told me that he wanted to attend business and legal classes so that he would be able to expand his father's financing business. I told him that I wanted to become a huntress and attend Beacon, to get out from under my father's thumb. I'm sure you can guess how that went."

Ron quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Well, maybe you can't," she took a deep breath. "Sometimes, it feels like we've been...friends...for years. Well, the head of a prestigious financing company just can't have a wife who's off running around with rough, unsavory hunters, can he? Who knows what she's doing out in the field, and who she's doing it with? Why, she's probably burning through lien with her wild partying and purchasing her equipment. All of these good folks' can hardly trust their money to someone who'll put up with that sort of behavior from his wife, can they?"

"I'm still not understanding," Ron admitted. "Doesn't Atlas Academy produce hunters, as well?"

"Yes," she nodded, knowing why he was confused. "When a hunter graduates from Atlas Academy, he or she is...encouraged...aggressively...to take up a commission in the Atlesian Military. While the other three kingdoms monitor and rate hunters, they allow them to take such missions and jobs as they will."

"So Atlas keeps the hunters under control," Ron nodded.

" _Strict_ control," Weiss emphasized. "I would have been acceptable, marginally, if I had attended Atlas. Because I wanted to leave the kingdom, I was something of a rogue." She shook her head. "We got into an argument about it. Right there, in bed, naked, we started to argue about foolishly turning away from my Atlesian Heritage and blindly following a path laid out for him without even thinking."

"It felt like a betrayal," she sighed. "We were lovers, or so I thought at the time. We were supposed to support each other and tell each other how great we were. I didn't even so much as wish him goodbye when I left for Beacon. As the months went by and I made new friends, I looked back on this relationship and saw it for what it was."

"We weren't lovers," she smiled sadly. "We were a couple of kids letting our hormones control us. As much as I felt betrayed by him, he must have felt betrayed by me, as well. We were just two, foolish kids that hadn't thought anything about jumping in to what we did. In the end, we both thought that we were the center of the world and were upset that the other one wouldn't accept that."

"In other words, typical teenagers," Ron suggested.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I haven't lived a typical life. Anyway, after some time at Beacon, realizing that I wouldn't be in charge, not being paired up with the partner I chose, and getting clobbered a few times, I realized that I wasn't the center of the world. I didn't want to get back together with Oskar, but I owed him an explanation. I didn't want to call him but I spent a couple of days composing a text, laying out exactly what I thought of the situation and apologizing for handling things...somewhat less than exemplary. A few days after I sent it, I got a return text informing me that he felt much the same way."

"He's a good guy," Weiss concluded. "It's just that what he wants from life turned out to be what his parents wanted for him. I don't regret what we did it's just that...I wish I had thought about it before jumping into it."

"I'm sorry I eavesdropped," Ron apologized, once the silence had become awkward. "The two of you looked a little...off...and I thought..."

"You wanted to be ready to get in the middle, in case things got awkward," she interrupted. "As much as I'm angry at you for listening to the conversation, I can't fault you for that."

Again, silence descended on them but this time it was more companionable.

"I gave you a memory," she told him, after several minutes. "Can you return the favor? Tell me about a good time that you had with Kim."

"It doesn't have to be...well... _that_!" She corrected, when she saw his shocked expression. "I've never had what you'd call a boyfriend, so tell me about a time when the two of you just...were."

"There's a religious holiday on Earth called Christmas," Ron started, after deciding on a good memory. "It was...is...celebrated close to the Winter Solstice. My religion doesn't celebrate it, but there's one that's at about the same time and means something close enough that I didn't have a problem joining Kim's family for their celebration."

"At the time, we had been together as a couple for just over half of a year," he continued. "Her father managed to arrange a test flight of a rocket for that evening."

"It was one of my screw-ups that brought this on," he snorted, shaking his head at the memory. "The year before that, I tried to give her the gift of an uninterrupted Christmas with her family and went after one of the villains we fought...all alone. Her family wound up covering the world looking for me, but because they were so close, they enjoyed it and wanted to do it again."

"You don't have the northern lights on this world," he murmured, looking at the night sky. "They're beautiful, shimmering curtains of light in the sky. Well, we flew through them that night. I'm sure you've flown through clouds and know that they look almost solid from a distance, but are just fog while you are in them. It was sort of the same way with the northern lights; from a distance, they looked like this shimmering curtain of light but when we were actually in them, it was just a slight illumination all around us. Then we came out and turned parallel to the lights.

"The polar ice was below us," he told her, his voice awed with the memory. "We were in between two curtains of gentle light. Above us was a pillar of red light, reaching far up into space. We both gasped at the sight...it was so beautiful! Then, she took my hand."

"I can remember wondering how I had possibly gotten so lucky," he sighed. "How someone as special as her could see a sight so wondrous and immediately take my hand...to want to include me in all of it. How I could have screwed up so badly the year before and still managed to create a memory that her whole family cherished. We were in special chairs, so we couldn't do more than hold hands but when we got back home and left the rocket, I put my arm around her, she put her head on my shoulder and we looked at what little we could see of the lights...far off to the northeast."

"As beautiful as it was, her hand in mine made it better," he concluded. "And somehow, my hand in hers made it better for her."

Weiss could only watch him and study the awed and happy look on his face. She couldn't bring herself to feel jealousy about the story. While she wished she had experienced something like that...with someone special to her...she couldn't begrudge him the joy. Instead, she pledged herself to getting him home again. As much as she wanted him...and she could now freely admit that she did...she couldn't deny him the relationship he and this girl she had never met had forged over almost their entire lives.

 _(1) Attributed to Mark Twain._

* * *

 _A/N: As always, my thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	21. Chapter 21

"So let me get this straight," Taiyang hissed to his former lover. "Torchwick offered you these weapons and you turned him down, so now you're going to take them away from the Sert Asiret tribe?" He shook his head. "That's going to cost you lives to take them. Why not just take the weapons directly from Torchwick?"

"We aren't mercenaries," she rolled her eyes, looking down at the valley from the concealed position they had on the ridge. "When I make an agreement, I keep it. Just because my morality doesn't align perfectly with yours, you seem to think I have none."

Seeing no movement, she gave him a longer look. "We've gone over this dozens of times, you know my reasoning. Now, it seems to me that these little question sessions of yours conveniently come up whenever it's time for you to live up to your side of the bargain. Tell me Tai, no dithering and no denials, why are you trying so hard to reach the Kingdom of Mistral?"

"It's the closest kingdom," he shrugged.

"I need more details!" Raven rolled her eyes. "This is serious business, not our little pillow talk sessions from our Beacon days!"

"And when I tell you, you'll just let me go?"

"I'll let you go, if you want to go, after we take the weapons from the Sert Asiret," she nodded. "No matter the secret."

"Fine," he took a deep breath. "I'm sure you've heard that our great enemy is named Salem. I tracked one of her operatives to what I believe to be her stronghold. If I can get to Mistral, and they still have some sort of diplomatic relations with Atlas, she could potentially be taken out in one, massive strike."

"That would be some good news," Raven nodded, after considering the possibility for a few minutes. "I know you won't believe me, but I have no desire to see the kingdoms fall. Some of Salem's activities are known to me, so I want to see her weakened." She now looked at the blonde man for a couple of more minutes. If she thought to cow him with her gaze, she was disappointed. "Just how did you find this stronghold?"

"Your brother put me on the trail," Taiyang told her.

I knew Qrow was trailing... _ **your daughter**_ _._..and her companions," Raven's voice grated when referring to Ruby. "Why didn't he just take care of things himself?"

"He was poisoned and weakened," Taiyang informed her. The brunette's eyes flew wide and her gaze grew intense. "Well," Taiyang offered a humorless chuckle. "At least you have a little concern for family."

"I told that idiot that he was going to accomplish nothing by following...her!" Raven spat.

"Nothing but draw out one of Salem's more powerful agents," Tai countered. "Nothing but cripple him so that he fled back to his queen...so I could trail him there."

"So my brother paid the price so that you could reap the glory," Raven rolled her eyes. "That's what Ozpin's lessons taught him."

"Glory?" The somewhat captive was slack-jawed with disbelief. "I'm not in this for the glory! I want a world that my daughters can grow up in! I had to leave Yang...our daughter...when she needed me. I had to chase Tyrian across the wastelands to the southeast when Ruby was approaching Mistral. Don't you think I'd rather be with my girls than trailing some psychopath?"

"Oh yes!" Raven's eyes were red when she rolled them this time. "Taiyang the great family man! So devoted to his dear children and those closest to him! You sure didn't have much problem leaving me!"

"I didn't leave you!" He growled right back. "You left me! You left me with our daughter to raise on my own!"

"I had to!" She countered. "The tribe needed me and I asked you to come with me. I even begged, something I had never done before and have never done since! I begged you to come with me and help guide my tribe! YOU were the one who said no!"

"I couldn't live the life of a bandit!" He snapped at her.

"And I couldn't live the life of a huntress!" She snapped right back at him. "Running off to who knows where, at the whim of Ozpin or some other self-righteous elite! I was honest, Tai. I loved you and wanted you by my side! You sure didn't return that favor, did you?"

"What are you talking about?" He demanded. "I was devastated when you left!"

"Oh," her voice dripped with sarcasm. "You sure didn't waste time taking up with _Summer_!"

"I was all alone, trying to raise a daughter," he sighed. "She showed up and helped me. She was there for me when I was trying to get over you leaving!"

Raven chuckled at him. "Excuses and lies that you might even believe," she shook her head. " _YOUR_ daughter is what, two years younger than Yang? It sure didn't take long for you to find your way into _Summer's_ bed."

"I felt worthless after you left," the fight had gone out of him, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "The woman I loved, the mother of my daughter, had left me. While I cherished Yang, I had to wonder if I was so...reprehensible...that you left her behind because you couldn't stand to have any little piece of me with you. I was going through my life in a daze, and that wasn't good for Yang. Qrow was off someplace doing something I still don't know what, so when Summer showed up and helped me with our daughter, it was a godsend."

Raven simply looked at him, neither challenging, mocking or sympathetic.

"Then...then she started to help _me_ ," he admitted, able to meet Raven's eye. "Pushing me to take the job at Signal, shoving me off the couch to clean and maintain my home, forcing me to act like a person again. I was still miserable, but at least I was functioning. Then, she started to show interest...in _me_."

He expected her to sneer at him or mock him. Instead, she cocked her head slightly to one side, curious.

"I thought I was completely worthless," he continued. "But there she was, helping me, encouraging me and then..." He took a deep breath. "Do you know what it's like to feel like nothing, and then have someone...want you?"

He looked at the ground, unable to meet her eyes.

"She was a fool and you still are."

Taiyang looked up, but neither Raven's expression or her voice were harsh.

"Summer Rose could wade into a pack of grimm or criminals without hesitation," Raven told him. "She could jump off of a cliff or dive into a raging river without a second thought. However, she could never tell a young man that she was interested in him in any way." She chuckled at the blonde man. "She wanted you for years but could never bring herself to say it. Are you trying to tell me that you never noticed?"

"Back at Beacon?" He asked.

"Yes, back at Beacon!" She shook her head, now disgusted. "Maybe that was part of your charm, that you never realized what was happening. It doesn't matter. So, you want to let the kingdoms know where Salem is hiding?"

"Where Tyrian ran to," Taiyang confirmed.

"So, what did you do when you tracked him to his hidey-hole?"

"I waited until he came out," Taiyan shrugged. "We had a discussion about him messing with my daughter."

Raven just looked at him.

"He didn't survive the discussion," Taiyang admitted. "I don't feel like talking about it."

"Of course not," her smirk said volumes. "The valiant huntsman doesn't brag about killing people."

Before Taiyang could comment, Raven lifted her hand.

"It's almost time," she whispered, leaving Taiyang wondering what signal she had detected. "The Sert Asiret are coming back from their latest raid. Torchwick's errand boy will show up and provide them with more ammunition, maybe a few more guns. The timing's critical, but you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Let's get it over with," Taiyang grumbled.

Despite the fact that he wasn't a bandit, Taiyang could move with incredible grace. He was easily as silent and swift as Raven. He followed her into the valley, more bandits joining them from the surrounding woods as they went.

Try as he might, Taiyang couldn't help but get into the action. It almost felt like old times; he and Raven stalking through a forest, about to clash with bandits. He had to force himself to remember that he was with one band of bandits...about to attack another, but this was what he had trained to do. Looking to his side, he saw that Raven was also suppressing a smile. One of Raven's band slipped up to his chief and exchanged some whispers. He quickly slipped away, quiet as an oiled shadow.

"My scouts have spotted the pickets," she whispered to Taiyang. "Two are ahead of us right now. My best archers will take them out with bows.

Taiyang nodded and crouched next to Raven. A few minutes later, again hearing something that he couldn't, she gestured for her band to stalk forward, spreading out into a lethal net. Soon, they could spot flickering firelight through the trees.

"Here's where you're going to earn your keep," Raven whispered to Taiyang. "We don't want to use what little dust we have left, especially when Torchwick's ammunition and weapons could be damaged. We hit hard and take them all out. When Torchwick's errand-boy drops off the goods, we pack them up and get out of here. Mistral will no longer be threatened and you'll be free to report Salem's location."

"I know the plan," he hissed back.

"So you know you and I are going to rush the camp and secure the weapons," she reminded him. "And remember, _these_ bandits have been raiding the outlying towns around Kuchinashi. We take what we need, but the Sert Asiret have been killing on Torchwick's orders. I'm a predator while they're mercenaries. Remember that if you have second thoughts."

Taiyang grimaced. He was having trouble remembering that all of the bandits, even Raven, were his enemies. He was trying to forget the adrenaline rush of the missions they went on during their final year at Beacon, the sense of accomplishment at a difficult job done well; and how they often celebrated afterwards. He stalked closer, now able to hear the boasting and laughter as the Sert Asiret recounted their latest deeds. Now hearing the deeds, Taiyang knew he would have no difficulty doing what was...necessary.

Raven's fingers dug into his shoulder, halting him. He didn't know what method she had of keeping track of her tribe, but she clearly knew that they were moving into position. He could now see that two of the Sert Asiret were cleaning Torchwick's weapons and storing them in a wooden crate. Apparently, the bandit chief didn't think it was a good idea to let the tribe handle them while drinking. His approval of this policy was interrupted when Raven shoved him forward.

"Now!" The dark haired woman hissed at him. He didn't hesitate, but rushed forward, abandoning all attempts at stealth.

A boisterous man, one who had been bragging about taking certain liberties with farmers' wives and daughters, stepped into his way. Taiyang had no problem kneeing him in the groin the driving an elbow into his throat. The bandit made horrid gurgling noises as he dropped, but Taiyang couldn't spend more attention on him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raven bisect another man with the draw-and-slash maneuver he was so familiar with from his Beacon days. Then, he was upon the two who were cleaning and storing the weapons.

One young woman had not yet disassembled her firearm, and was able to load it before Taiyang closed upon her. The teacher feinted to his left then tumbled to his right. Bullets plowed the ground next to him as he completed his somersault, now too close for his opponent to bring her weapon to bear. He grabbed the barrel and forced it to the sky while delivering a head-butt to her face. She lost her grip on her rifle and Taiyang tossed it to one side while he delivered a kick to the other handler's wrist. This weapon also went flying into the air. Before Taiyang could catch it, Raven was there, cutting down both handlers with two lightning-fast slashes.

Now the two stood, back to back, guarding the rifles while the Sert Asiret rushed forward to reclaim them. Taiyang parried a spear-thrust with the edge of his hand and drove his the fingertips from his other hand into the assailant's eyes. Raven parried a sword thrust then riposted the blade into her opponent's chest. Tai landed a quick kick to an oncoming woman's belly, ruining her attack and sending her staggering back. Then, Raven's tribe burst into the clearing.

It wasn't a battle, it was a slaughter. While the numbers were roughly even, Raven's band caught the Sert Asiret by surprise and mostly drunk. What few of the surprised bandits managed to put up a meaningful resistance fell to the few rounds that Raven's followers had. Tai couldn't bring himself to take part in it, other than defending himself against those who directly attacked him. He had heard the rumors, of course, but had never experienced a battle between bandit tribes. When bandit fought bandit, no prisoners were taken, no quarter given. Soon, it was over and quiet in the clearing.

"The strong live, Tai," Raven told him. Rather than a haughty lecture, her tone sounded strangely like his when he had to explain to Yang where pork chops came from. "This is a truth that I've known for years, what Qrow has sought to forget, and what you've never wanted to know. The strong endure, but you've never understood that you are one of the strongest, if you ever choose to be."

And for a moment, with Raven looking at him like she did back in their Beacon days, surrounded by hardened bandits who looked at him with respectful awe, Taiyang Xiao Long wanted to be one of the strong.

There was no time for contemplation. Bandits quickly dragged the fallen out of the clearing, others mended the tents and set the camp straight as best they could. Still others stoked up the fire and took up places where their fallen foes had been just minutes before. Raven led Tai into the forest, where they could observe the next phase.

"Tell me again why we had to do this just before the supply ship is supposed to arrive," he whispered to her.

"You already know," she told him. "It's so we can get our weapons before any grimm show up and so that any survivors from our ambush won't be able to let Torchwick know that we've wiped out his servants."

"Survivors?" He asked.

"There are always survivors," she told him. "Pickets we didn't see, and who had the good sense to run when the fighting started. Perhaps a couple or two slipped off into the forest for a little alone time and also ran. By the time Torchwick finds out that he just armed us, rather than the Sert Asiret, we'll be long gone with what we came for."

Suddenly, she held up a hand, silencing him. A moment later, he could hear what she had; an aircraft approaching from the southwest. Through the branches, he noted that there were three ships of Mistralean design. They approached rapidly before slowing and gliding gracefully the rest of the way. One ship hung over the fire while the other two slowly circled around.

"Something's not right," Taiyang whispered. "Why three ships?"

"Maybe Torchwick is increasing their shipments," she shrugged her shoulders. "They have been increasing their attacks lately. Think of that, Tai, you helped eliminate a bandit band that was slaughtering innocents. You have nothing to feel guilty about."

"Something still isn't right about this," Taiyang insisted.

The stationary ship slowly descended into the clearing and a hooded man hopped out. Two more men grabbed a large crate and hauled it out of the cargo hold while several of Raven's tribe walked forward to meet them.

"I never thought you would become an old..."

The hooded man suddenly leaped forward and unleashed a kick so fast that even Taiyang, a huntsman and hand-to-hand combat expert, had trouble following it. The bandit he hit flew limply back while the two men hauling the crate suddenly produced weapons as started to fire upon Raven's surprised tribe. Even as the two former Beacon students prepared to charge, firing and curses broke out in the woods all around them.

"Ambush!" Taiyang hissed. "Torchwick's on to you!"

"No," Raven snapped back, but two men were suddenly upon them, wielding the rifles that Raven coveted so much.

Before they could fire, Raven slashed with her sword, slicing through rifle, flesh and bone. Taiyang seized the barrel of the other man's weapon and forced it to the sky. Bullets flew upwards while the blonde man delivered an elbow strike to his attacker's throat. A groin kick and knee to his chin assured that he wouldn't get up again.

Raven and Taiyang shared a look upon noticing that both of their attackers wore white tunics and grimm masks.

"White Fang," Raven put words to the thoughts. "They aren't after my tribe, they intended to betray the Sert Asiret!"

More White Fang now surged out of the surrounding woods and into the clearing. Those of Raven's tribe who were there were already down. Taiyang could see the indecision on Raven's face, gauging the odds.

"There's no help for them," he told her. "There are too many White Fang and they're all armed with these wonder rifles." He held up the weapon that he had taken from his latest opponent. "We have to get out of here or we're dead, too."

Raven's eyes turned red for two blinks before she gave a short nod and spun on her heel. The two sprinted through the forest, as quiet as shadows. Taiyang managed one look back into the clearing before the foliage obscured his view. The hooded man was now bare-headed and Tai recognized the silver haired man from his match against Yang during the Vytal Tournament.

Mercury Black had led the White Fang.

* * *

Ruby didn't know where she was or what she was doing. All she knew was that she hated what it was she had to do. She was a huntress...okay, a student huntress but a huntress nonetheless. She was supposed to stand between innocent people and grimm. So why was she rushing through a forest, cutting down _people_? Why was she standing in a deep cut, cliffs all around her, killing _people_ who wanted to kill other people?

A sobbing gasp broke into her reality, causing her to open her eyes and find herself in the cramped quarters Team RNJR had booked on the Rahatsiz. The dirty ship was made to carry heavy loads, not carry passengers and its rounded bottom meant that it rolled with even the lightest waves, but it would arrive in BatiKiyisi a half day earlier than the next ship. In the dim light she spotted Jaune burst out of his sleeping bag, grab his boots with one hand while holding the other hand over his mouth, and rush out of the cabin.

Ruby had to snort, even though she tried to be quiet enough to not wake the other two members of her team. The term 'cabin' implied some things that just weren't present. When they had made their deal to take the ship, back in Gozadasi, the captain told them that he would have to displace several crew members to accommodate the team. Instead, Ruby suspected that she had relocated several barrels of oil, grease, other lubricants and other engine supplies to make room for the team. The floor...er the deck...was still slick and the 'bunks' looked suspiciously like heavy duty shelves, but the team only had to endure it for a few days. Getting up and pulling on her boots, Ruby decided to look for Jaune; all the while hoping that their discomfort would actually accomplish something.

Stepping out onto the main deck, she noted the moon and estimated that it was probably between two and three in the morning. Jaune wasn't hard to find; she simply followed the retching sounds. Walking aft, she soon found him hanging over the rail, shuddering weakly. Over the months that they had traveled together, she had learned to help him keep what dignity he had managed to maintain; she kept into the shadows until he finished, then approached.

"The nightmares again?" He asked, when he saw her. He sat down and leaned against the ship's superstructure, looking unusually pale in the moonlight.

"Yeah," she admitted. "You?"

"That and the fact that my digestive tract still doesn't know what direction it's supposed to work when at sea...or would you call it being at lake?"

"I don't think it matters much," she told him, taking a seat right next to him. For some reason, it was...nice...to feel his arm against her shoulder. "When you're out of sight of land, it doesn't matter much to me if it's salt water or fresh."

For several minutes, they simply stared out over the water. Finally, Jaune found his voice.

"What have we gotten into?" He asked.

Ruby looked around, confirming that there were no crewmen to be seen. "What we've trained to do," she told him. "Protecting the innocent."

"Not what I meant," he shook his head.

"Okay, it's not exactly pleasant right now," she admitted. "And Torchwick gave us the slip, but it's no reason to give up! The world needs us and things will get better."

"Still not what I'm talking about," he sighed. "Back on the mountain trail, when we attacked the White Fang that were in ambush...we didn't know they were hostiles at the time. All we knew was that they were armed and in the forest. We didn't give them any chance to surrender..."

"We were outnumbered," Ruby pointed out. "We didn't know how well trained they were, so we couldn't give up the element of surprise."

"Yeah, but what if they had turned out to be prospectors, trappers or even a bunch of persecuted faunas who were just trying to get away from everyone and didn't want trouble? We didn't try to find out, we just attacked. I was never so happy to hear a confession as when the White Fang talked after we learned that the bombs were fake."

Ruby thought about that for a moment. She remembered the fight in the abandoned quarry; she and Nora firing almost the last of their ammunition at the scattered camp while Jaune and Ren had rushed inside to disable the bombs. She remembered her teammates stalking out of the storage building, dragging a White Fang member along with them. The woman had been incapacitated...but hadn't taken a physical injury. Instead, she wailed that the bombs were fake, that they had been betrayed and that Torchwick had sent them out here to die for nothing. That hadn't been the end of the fight, but the remaining White Fang were a lot less fanatic about their cause. At the end, there were two wounded and two uninjured White Fang left. After all four had seen that the 'valuable bombs' they had been guarding were only scrap metal and sand, their defiance came to an end.

They were ready to give their lives to their cause, but they weren't ready to have Roman Torchwick deceive them. Despite the fact that none of the four was a bird faunas, they all sang like canaries. Their mission had been to transport the 'bombs' to the abandoned quarry and store them their until either Roman or Adam Taurus sent additional instructions. In order to keep everyone away, they were to ambush anyone on the trail shuttling supplies and marble along the mountain trail. After all the stories had been told, the team realized that they were now several days' hard travel from the port, low on dust, and that Roman could be anywhere with the real bombs.

"I'm getting better," Jaune murmured. For a moment, Ruby thought he was talking about his seasickness but she quickly realized that he was talking about his fighting ability. "Ren and Nora are already great and you're a force of nature. But does that give us the ability...the right...to decide who, when and where to attack? Does one year of Beacon give us the ability to decide who's a terrorist, who's an innocent and who's some dumb young person who's been manipulated into some cause he thinks is right? How did we get the power of life and death over strangers in the forest?"

"What are you getting at?" Ruby asked.

"We've been so focused on being able to shred through opponents that we haven't put enough time into figuring out who are opponents are!"

"Jaune, we're on a vital mission," Ruby pointed out. "We can worry about these...other things...once we make sure the bombs aren't going to hurt anyone."

"Can we?" He asked. "Lets say that we manage to find the bombs and disarm them. What next, will we have to not ask these questions until after we deal with Cinder? Then, will we have to not ask these questions until after we deal with Salem? We didn't do anything wrong back on the island...but we could have committed murder very easily."

"Maybe when we track down the bombs and get back to Mistral, we can talk to Winter or someone else," Ruby suggested. "Find out how to make the right decision. Right now, we have to get those bombs and that means that we can't worry about anything else until we track them down."

"That's another problem," he sighed. "While we're on this ship, the only thing to do is worry."

Ruby sighed, as well. After the battle in the abandoned quarry they had gotten lucky, in a way. Keski had offered to guard the White Fang they had captured, who seemed to have lost a great deal of their determination after being betrayed. They reached the active quarry as the sun went down and decided to set aside secrecy and report in. The return message they received was another recorded one, urging them to seize the bombs as soon as possible. A late night meeting with the caravan master allowed the man to assure the team that he understood something big was taking place and that they couldn't wait for him to make the return trip. Instead, the team left before dawn the next morning, force-marching back to Gozadasi.

People can make better time than mules, so the team camped that night almost halfway to the city. Exhausted, they reported in again. This time, the response came back in real time. The language Winter used to describe their situation was hardly complimentary. The term 'bumbling amateurs' was probably the kindest words she had used to describe them. Jaune had already started to compose a reply when he suddenly stopped, took ten slow, deep breaths and started over. The team watched him compose a message that essentially informed the military officer that they were all she had and if she didn't want them on the case, they would be happy to return to their profitable contracts and let her deal with the situation. After several long minutes, during which the team swore they could hear teeth grinding far to the east, a reply came back.

This time, Winter asked them their intended course of action. Jaune replied that they were returning to Gozadasi as quickly as possible, after which they would find out where the Yuk Gemisi's next scheduled port was at. They would then take the most expedient transportation to that port and try to pick up the weapons' trail again. The delay this time was much less than the last. Winter concurred with their actions and instructed them to report regularly, even if it meant being observed. Torchwick clearly knew that they were on his trail so it was time for speed, not stealth.

They camped that night and set off before dawn once again. When the sun went down, they continued, reaching Gozadasi as the sun came up the following morning. Kapici had been devastated to learn that he had been duped, and immediately looked up a friend that worked for the harbor master. The team quickly learned that the Yuk Gemisi had sailed west to the port of BatiKiyisi. The next ship due to sail in that direction was the less than luxurious...or sanitary... Rahatsiz, which was due to sail the next day. Ruby remembered her first view of the barely floating bucket. She swore she was in danger of getting Tetanus just from looking at it. Still, they managed to secure passage on the ship.

Kapici had managed one last favor for them. He occasionally gave letters to ships' crewmen, asking them to deliver them to longshoremen in other ports. Over the months that he had worked in Gozadasi, he had established a correspondence with a worker in BatiKiyisi. This man, Arkadas, may or may not be willing to find out if heavy items had been removed from the Yuk. It wasn't very much, but it was the best he could do.

"Watch yourselves on the Rahatsiz," he told them. "That's a smugglers' ship if I've ever seen one. They'll steal any dust you have and sell you if you're not careful."

Kapici's warning had been well-advised. While the crew was smiles and manners while in sight of port, once out on the open lake the behavior changed. The crew did not look at the team as clients or customers...but as a dust deposit to be mined. Ruby and Nora had been subject to 'accidental' and unwelcome brushes and gropes in the cramped quarters...until the orange-haired girl had enough and decked a burly crewmen. That set off a brawl and for all that the crew were tough and scrappy sailors, they weren't trained hunters. The only injuries Team RNJR sustained were skinned knuckles from pounding on the sailors.

The captain had charged down from the bridge, blistering the team with language that gave even Nora and Ren amazed looks. To Ruby's surprise, it was Jaune that stepped forward and did the talking. When the captain demanded compensation for her crew's injuries, the blonde snapped back that they shouldn't have been grabbing what they had been grabbing. Ruby actually blushed when he used very blunt language to describe those portions of Ruby and Nora's anatomy that the sailors had been so fond of.

"I could drop you overboard right now boy," the wiry captain snarled at him, allowing a hand to drop onto the holstered pistol at her hip.

"You can _**try**_ to drop us overboard," Jaune countered, allowing his own hand to rest on Crocea Mors' hilt. Taking their cue, the rest of Team RNJR rested hands on weapons, ready for violence.

"This is a hijacking!" The captain snarled.

"No," Jaune countered. "This is preventing piracy. We have a deal, you will take us to BatiKiyisi like we agreed. If any of your crew decide that boobs or butts are a good place to put their hands, they're likely to lose them."

For almost a minute, the captain and Jaune stared each other down. Finally, the woman snarled for her crew to get back to work and for the 'damned passengers' to clear the deck.

Strangely enough, Team RJNR got along fine with the crew after that.

"We could try to report in again," Ruby suggested, as much to offer something to do as to keep Winter informed.

"I know we're supposed to not worry about who sees us anymore," Jaune protested. "But this crew..."

"Do you really think anyone will believe anything this bunch reports?" Ruby grinned.

"Okay, you have a point," Jaune admitted. He pulled out his scroll and composed a message. ' _On board ship, one day out of BatiKiyisi. Will update as events warrant."_

Ruby nodded her agreement and they unpacked the communication device from Jaune's pack. Soon, they had the antenna extended on the after-deck and were transmitting. It took several minutes to receive a response.

 _'Acknowledged. Your usual contact is out of communication but continue to report.'_

"Now what do you think that means?" Jaune asked, as he carefully stored the equipment back in his pack.

"Who knows?" Ruby shrugged. "Win...um...our contact is a busy person. She might be on another assignment."

"I wonder who answered the message," Jaune mused. "And where he or she is."

"No way of knowing," Ruby shrugged.

"Do you think that Torchwick unloaded the...targets...at BatiKiyisi?" She asked. "I mean, what good would they do there?"

Jaune remained silent, but he pulled up a petition on his scroll. He held it so that they two could look at the screen at the same time. Ruby saw that the petition was labeled 'The Traveler's Guide to Anima'. Soon, the screen displayed a map of the continent and Jaune focused it on the Northwestern shore of the great lake.

"Here's BatiKiyisi," he said. Ruby had some difficulty seeing the screen so he slid his arm back, letting her get closer. She noted an icon above the city and touched it, opening a menu.

"Select transportation," he suggested, so she did.

"BatiKiyisi has a deep water port, allowing efficient trade with Gozadasi, Derin Su and other ports on the great lake," she read. "An airship port is present, although very little trade is performed by this medium. There is also a well-maintained road leading over the mountains to the town of Soguk Su on the ocean coast. This road supports heavy, modern traffic, shuttling goods and people from the ocean to the great lake."

"Check out the town of Soguk Su," he prompted. "Again, check out the transportation section."

"You already have!" She protested. "Why are you having me read it?"

"I want to see if you come to the same conclusions that I have, without me leading you into anything," he old her.

"Okay, that makes sense," she admitted, then touched the icon. "Soguk Su has a well-maintained road leading over the mountains to the town of BatiKiyisi on the great lake. This road supports heavy, modern traffic, shuttling goods and people from the ocean to the great lake. Soguk Su also supports a fine, deep-water harbor and has several fjords in the region, allowing ocean going vessels to transfer cargo to and from shore without inconveniencing customs officials or tax collectors."

She gave him an odd look.

"It's the author's choice of words, not mine!" He told her. "Please continue."

"From Soguk Su, or the nearby coves, ocean traders link this city to the Kingdoms of Vale, Atlas, via the City of Mantle and Mistral, via the City of Windpath. Ships also travel to Menagerie and numerous independent port cities and towns throughout Remnant."

Suddenly, Ruby looked up. "If he takes the bomb...er...the things to Soguk Su, he could get them on smugglers ships to almost anywhere!"

"That's what I'm thinking," Jaune admitted.

"But why?" She demanded. "He had them in Mistral City! He could have just taken them to Windpath and managed the same thing!"

"Maybe he's waiting for something," Jaune suggested. "He said something about testing one before depending on the others. Maybe he wanted to get them out of Mistral right away...I don't know for sure."

"I hope this Arkadas guy can put us on the right track," she grumbled. "I'm tired. I'm tired of following these things through swamps and mountains. I'm tired of not knowing about dad, Qrow and Yang! I'm tired of wondering what happened to Weiss and Blake! Why can't we just find out what's happening, do what we need to do and go home?"

Ruby started to sob. Her room, in her home, was so far away and it seemed that she had been gone forever. Even the dorm room at Beacon would feel like home. Why couldn't she help Yang when her older sister needed her? Another memory; complaining about her dad being so overprotective. Had she actually complained about that? Dust! She had been such the idiot! When her father dropped her off at Beacon the last time, she had tried to squirm away when he hugged her and kissed her forehead. Why had she done that? What would she give, right now, to have her father wrap his arms around her and press his lips to her head? Tears began to fall and a comforting hand rested on her shoulder. Not really thinking, she buried her face in Jaune's shoulder and let the tears flow. His arm wrapped around her, letting her know she wasn't alone.

Was it only a year ago that Team RWBY and Team JNPR got into the big food fight...and they were worried about getting in trouble from Glynda? Was it only a year ago that she was with Yang, Blake and Weiss in their dorm room, not a scratch on any of them, excited about the Vytal Tournament? Now she was sitting on a rust-bucket, full of crewmen who would rob her or worse if they thought they could pull it off, pursuing some super-bombs in the hands of a master criminal who was supposed to be dead.

She couldn't say how long it took to cry herself out, but dawn was tinging the eastern horizon when she did. For some reason, she just didn't feel like extracting herself from Jaune's hug. Instead, she rested her head on his shoulder while she regained her composure.

"Sorry," she finally rasped out.

"Don't be," he countered. "None of us should be here but I guess we're all the world has."

"We'll get back," she assured both herself and him. "We'll finish this mission, then we'll go see Pyrrha's family, then we'll get back to Beacon."

"And then what?" He asked, staring out over the lake.

Ruby couldn't believe the question. They'd pick up their lives and go on, of course! Then, she began to think, as well. After all they had been through, would she be able to just go back to class? As much as she wanted to return home, was the house she had grown up in really home any more? While she had seen how much Jaune had improved during their journey, she now realized that she had changed, as well.

She wasn't the same girl who had left Patch, all those months ago.

Further contemplation was interrupted by Ren and Nora coming on deck. While Ren's expression remained pretty much unreadable, Nora suddenly sported a huge smile and her clear, blue eyes flew wide upon seeing the two already on deck. Ruby had the dawning realization that her head was still on Jaune's shoulder and his arm was still around her. Suddenly embarrassed, she jumped to her feet. Jaune heaved himself upright, as well.

"Although we remain out of sight of land, the captain says we are approaching shore," Ren informed them. "She is reducing our speed to approach the shallows with caution."

"Did you actually believe that?" Ruby asked, aware of how much she must be blushing right now.

"I fully believe that we are approaching the shore and that the captain is reducing our velocity," he answered. "I choose to believe that she is slowing in order to make sure that it is dark before she approaches the shore."

"Probably in some unoccupied cove, before she goes to the city," Jaune suggested.

"There must be a reason that this boat has a rounded hull and shallow draft," Ren noted. "It certainly isn't for stability in the open water."

"So it might be tricky getting off this ship in one piece," Ruby concluded.

"I have a plan for that," Ren noted. "However, the galley is serving breakfast and we don't want to miss it."

As Ren and Jaune started in the proper direction, Nora caught Ruby with a mischievous smile.

"It wasn't what it looked like!" Ruby hissed at her, realizing what Nora must have assumed upon seeing them on deck.

"Of course not," instead of a mocking tone, Nora sounded sad.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby demanded.

"The two of you aren't smart enough," Nora sighed. "If you had a lick of sense between you, it would have been exactly what it looked like."

Nora followed the boys towards the galley and after a moments' confusion, Ruby followed her. For all of the captain's faults...and there were plenty...the team couldn't find a complaint in how she fed her crew. Team RJNR joined the line of crewmen and were soon eating breakfast. While there were no pancakes, the food was still hot and filling. The team didn't tarry and were soon out on the fore-deck, where they couldn't be easily overheard. They spent most of the day discussing what Ruby and Jaune had researched, as well as the plan Ren had devised for exiting the ship...without violence.

At Ren's insistence, they also sparred. While two squared off against each other, the other two kept watch and shouted suggestions. For Ruby, the sparring drove home a couple of pieces of knowledge. First was that Jaune continued to improve and the second was that both Ren and Jaune were very dangerous to her and Nora close-in. She also noted that the crew was watching the matches with increasing respect and suddenly the girl realized that Ren had another reason for insisting upon them. The crew now knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that messing with this team was a very bad idea.

Tension rose on the ship as the sun made its way to the west. At twilight, they could feel the engines rev up and could see the wake build as the ship increased speed. The crew watched the team, apprehensive, while the team prepared for possible violence. As darkness fell, the team gathered all of their possessions and kept together. There were no clouds but the western portion of the sky had no stars; indicating that they were in sight of land. The engines cut back their output and they approached cautiously. Soon, they could smell evergreens on the western breeze.

"You're getting off here," the captain told them. The woman came onto the deck and gestured towards a small boat the crew was launching. "It's a short row to shore and we'll recover the boat when you're ashore."

"That's good to know," Ren told her, suddenly drawing Stormflower. "Because you'll be coming with us."

"My ass I will!" She snarled back. However, the team had moved quickly, surrounding her and drawing weapons, keeping her from escaping back to the crew. The sailors looked to have no real desire to tangle with the trainee hunters.

"All portions of your anatomy will be on the boat with us," Ren informed her. "As well as an additional crewman or two, should you wish. It would be a shame if your ship were to suddenly overrun the boat, or if we were to be farther from shore than you implied. I'm sure that with you on board with us, neither misfortune will occur."

"Two kilometers closer to shore!" She roared towards the bridge. "And take it slow! If you hole my hull I'll patch it with your skin!"

It was another tense hour as the boat crept forward. Team RNJR kept a close watch on the captain as the star-less section of the western sky spread up the horizon.

"All stop and drop anchor!" She roared. "Bill! Rob! The two of you will be handling the oars! Step quick!."

The tension didn't fade when the captain, the burly crewmen she chose for rowing duty, and Team RJNR climbed down the ladder into the boat. The tension didn't fade as they made their way towards the unseen shore, now able to hear the gentle wash of small waves on land. Jaune in particular was scared, as he was the only one who wore armor. If he were to go overboard, the chances of him getting back to the surface were very low.

Eventually, the boat's prow dug into mud and all occupants scrambled off.

"You're about four kilometers south of BatiKiyisi." The captain grumbled to them. "If you go inland, you'll find a track that's occasionally used. This will take you to a coast road that will take you into town."

"Silence is golden," Ren told her, slipping a few more lien into her hand. "It would be better if neither you nor us spoke of this little delivery."

"Agreed," she nodded, and returned to the small boat, leaving Team RNJR alone.

"Run," Ren instructed his teammates, in his normal voice. He immediately matched his words with actions, sprinting inland. Nora was right on his heels and after a moments' confusion, Ruby and Jaune were, as well. They followed the dark-haired boy off of the beach and into first the scrub, then the evergreen forest behind it. Suddenly, Ren turned to his right, ran another hundred meters or so, then stopped.

"Listen," he whispered to his companions, as they gathered around him. "We have no way of knowing if the captain arranged for an ambush. Listen for pursuit."

The team listened to the night forest. At first, there was silence. Then, the bugs and other animals started to call again. After several minutes, Ren was satisfied.

"I suggest we stay here for the night," he whispered to the others. "Once it is light, we will move inland, find the coastal road and take it to the city."

"You trust her about the road and our location?" Jaune asked.

"No," the normally stoic young man graced everyone with a small smile. "I peeked at some of their navigational charts yesterday. It turns out she was telling us the truth about our location and the roads; but I still do not trust her."

They drew straws for the watch for the rest of the night; first Jaune, then Ruby, then Nora then Ren. With the first hints of dawn in the sky, they struck out inland and found the road within a half-hour. Turning north, they reached the town in another two. It was still morning and there were stern looks at the gate...stern but not unwelcoming. Upon being let into the city, they made their way to the docks and started to ask for a longshoreman named Arkadas. An hours' search found him, a dark-skinned, bald man who's build confirmed that he spent his days hauling heavy loads. He was suspicious at first, but much less so when he received the letter from Kapici. After reading it, he gave them a measured look.

"The Yuk unloaded on the second dock," he told them. "The harbormaster's agent for that dock will know more than I. He's fond of his lien, but reasonable. If you have no luck with him, come back and talk with me."

Ruby and Jaune were happy to let Ren and Nora do the talking...and the gift distribution. It took some time and about half of their remaining lien, but they found out that an orange-haired man had offloaded two heavy crates, containing scrap metal (the agent gave them a sly look at that) and then loaded them on a truck convoy bound for Soguk Su.

"So, now we have to get to Soguk Su," Ruby sighed. "Does anyone have any suggestions?"

"We're running low on lien," Ren told her. "So perhaps we can cut another deal to ride shotgun on another vehicle convoy."

"So, I guess we go to BatiKiyisi's version of the marshaling yards," Jaune shrugged.

"After a proper meal!" Nora insisted.

The meal turned out to be a very good idea. While they ate properly, the staff was more than happy to direct them to the proper location in the city.

"You should be able to find employment," the waitress assured them. "We don't get many hunters out here and grimm have even started to attack the city."

Leaving a bit more of a gratuity than etiquette required, the team found their way to the marshaling yards. It was much different here than it was at Gozadasi. Back on the island, teamsters loaded mule-drawn wagons for a plodding trip. Here, forklifts loaded heavier loads into modern trucks for a rapid journey. However, some things remained the same; when the caravan left the protection of the town walls, they were in dangerous territory. The presence of a hunters' team, even one that had not become officially sanctioned, was welcome.

"I'll be heading over the pass and to Soguk Su," a thin man told them. "We'll be leaving in the morning and with the dust shortage, we can barely fuel the trucks, much less arm ourselves. You say you're student hunters, so I wonder how capable you are..."

"Incoming grimm!" A shout from the wall interrupted the discussion. "Everyone under cover!" Screams followed, then a couple of gunshots. The people in the marshaling yard scrambled into trucks and buildings. Suddenly alone, Team RJNR looked up to see a small swarm of grimm type they had never seen before fly over the wall.

They were smaller grimm, slightly smaller than a grown man. They had the legs, claws and wings of an over-sized eagle, but the torso of a woman. Their faces were those of a human woman, but twisted and angry beyond what a human face was capable of expressing.

"Now that's just nasty!" Nora commented, as the dark creatures swept down at them. "I mean, did whoever is making these thing _have_ to make the human parts female? Did they _have_ to give the darn things boobs? At least the bone plates are strategically placed on the chests and there are feathers on the lower halves. But seriously, grimm don't mate or nurse...so _boobs_?"

"Nora!" Ren snapped at her, while tumbling to partial cover between two buildings.

"What?" Nora paused her rant to look at him. Nonchalantly, she delivered a backhand swing at one of the swooping grimm, launching it suddenly backwards to lie, twitching feebly on the ground.

"It's customary to take cover when attacked by agile, flying grimm," Ren pointed out, firing a short burst of his precious, remaining dust rounds at another such grimm.

"No little hussy of a monster is going to make me run away!" She informed her lifelong friend. To emphasize this point, she jumped into the air to avoid another grimm's oncoming claws and delivered another powerful blow, dropping another of the creatures.

"For dust's sake, do it anyway!" Ren snapped at her. He burned still more of his few remaining rounds, and Ruby fired one as well, to drop two more creatures that were circling the exposed girl.

"Okay, fine," she grumbled. She trotted backwards towards the rest of her team, who had taken up a position in a narrow alley, while keeping a close eye on the circling creatures.

"But this isn't over!" The ginger-haired girl announced. "Whomever is doing this is going to hear from me! It's disrespectful! It's indecent! Setting creatures of darkness onto mankind is one thing, but this is...distasteful!"

In the skies above them, the remaining grimm had learned to not close on the team. Instead, they circled above the hunters and, in unison, unleashed a loud, high-pitched shriek. The noise struck the team like a physical blow, staggering them and prompting them to cover their ears. The grimm swooped to the attack again but the team's position in relative cover caused the creatures to slow their attacks. By the time they closed, the team was ready again. Ruby pumped out two rounds and Ren fired another short burst, but the grimm dodged the shots.

"How much ammunition to you have left?" Jaune asked, as the grimm returned to their higher altitude.

"Seven gravity rounds," Ruby answered. "Two fire rounds and ten lighting rounds."

"Fifteen rounds," Ren added. "Enough for two short bursts."

"Two grenades," Nora concluded.

"Okay, no more shooting," Jaune decided. "We might need the ammunition when we reach the bombs."

"So how do we deal with these grimm?" Nora demanded.

Another shriek sounded, again driving them to their knees. This time, knowing what to expect, the team recovered more swiftly. When the grimm swooped, Ren managed to spring back and forth between the two buildings, getting high enough to leap on one of the grimm. The tangled its wings, causing it to crash to the marshaling yard earth with him on top of it. Other grimm tried to swoop onto the young man, but his teammates rallied into the yard, keeping them at a distance while he finished off his foe.

"That's it!" Jaune yelled, after they returned to the alley. "They're attacking _us_ because we're exposed!"

"Well, it's better than them attacking civilians," Nora commented. "Or flashing the kids, but what good does that do us?"

"We know how to get them down where we can deal with them!" He answered. "Nora! Ruby! You're our heavy hitters! Ren, you're my safety in case something goes wrong. The three of you, stay here with your hands over your ears. I'll bring them to you!"

"What?" The three other members of Team RNJR demanded at once.

"Trust me!" Jaune demanded, then burst from between the buildings with his hands over his ears and running as fast as he could.

He looked up and saw that the reduced flock was again fairly high in the air but they quickly reacted to his sprint. Not knowing how intelligent these creatures were...so how convincing he had to be, he acted like he was sprinting for one of the trucks. A massive shriek caused him to stumble, but his covered ears reduced its effect. He dove under the truck and kept rolling, emerging from the other side while at least one of the grimm slammed into the vehicle. Then he sprinted around the truck, seeing a couple of stunned grimm next to the truck. His sudden movement caused three more to collide in midair, giving him a few precious seconds. He took advantage of this delay, and the muscles that marching across two continents had given him, to sprint towards his companions. Feeling claws on his shoulder, he dove into a front somersault. A scythe slashed just above him, cutting the attacking grimm in half.

A hammer followed the scythe, crushing another grimm and sending the broken body slamming into another one. Ren vaulted over Jaune's tumbling form, sweeping a set of oncoming talons out of the way and slashing deeply into a torso. Regaining his feet, Jaune spun just in time to deflect another set of talons with his shield and chop off a wing.

"They're not smart!" Ruby yelled, twirling Crescent Rose to block another grimm. "They're fighting now, they won't fly back up out of our reach!"

Nora executed a front flip, building up speed to knock yet another of the grimm out of the sky. Jaune decapitated the grimm he had maimed and looked up in time to see Ren finish his off, as well. Like Ruby claimed, once battle started in earnest, the grimm didn't consider retreating back to the sky. They circled and struck, the team was prepared. Ruby and Nora did the damage while Jaune and Ren sought to defend the two young women. Soon, the grimm were finished and civilians were emerging from buildings and vehicles.

"What was that move!" Nora snarled at the blonde boy.

"I got the grimm down to where we could deal with them," Jaune told her.

"Next time, tell us exactly what you are up to!" Ruby growled. She tried to get in his face to let him know how unhappy she was, but much of the effect was lost by her only coming up to his chest.

"Your action, while effective, could have been disastrous," Ren informed his friend. "We did not know you were returning to our positions, which nearly prompted us to pursue you. Also, you caused us a great deal of stress. Please inform us of such actions in the future."

"Got it," the blonde nodded. "Sorry, it just seemed a good idea."

"It was a great idea," Nora agreed. "Just let us know about it next time."

The discussion was interrupted by the caravan master arriving.

"I believe I was expressing my concerns about your capability before the grimm interrupted us," he told them. "Now that you've demonstrated it, how about we start negotiating a salary?"

* * *

 _A/N: Again, my thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._


	22. Chapter 22

"Still another shipment?" Yang asked. "I thought there was supposed to be a dust shortage."

"There is," Neptune told his friend. "At least officially."

"What about unofficially?" She demanded.

"I haven't been officially told," he protested.

Yang gave him a look that told him, in no uncertain terms, that a beating would be following if he didn't divulge some unofficial knowledge. Neptune heaved a sigh. He had just gotten off the delivery train from Mistral City only to have Yang, Scarlett and Sage confront him right on the unloading dock in Kuchinashi. He waved for the three of them to accompany him to a less-densely occupied portion of the dock. Once he felt he could speak privately, he explained.

"It seems that Weiss took control of the Schnee Dust Company away from her father," he told them, to wide eyes and Yang's fist-pump. "After that, she managed to talk the Atlesians into allowing some dust trade to start up again, which meant that Mistral got a little dust. A bit ago, I'm not sure how long, she managed to get the restrictions relaxed a whole lot more. Dust has started to flow into Windpath, but it's taking time to distribute it. The shops in the cities are still out."

"Why's that?" Sage asked.

"I don't know, but I think it's something the military commanders are doing that the headmaster doesn't know about. All I can tell you is that this train is only the first of three full trains that is going to arrive here today."

"Is that why we're confined to our barracks area when not on official duty?" Scarlett asked. "And why we're not supposed to talk to civilians?"

"I don't know...with any certainty," Neptune admitted.

"Okay, now what about something more important?" Yang asked. "Were you able to find out anything about Ruby?"

"No," Neptune sighed. "At least, not directly."

Yang simply glared at him.

"The face recognition software managed to track down where her team was staying," he showed her some security camera footage on his scroll. "There's a hunters' job board not terribly far from their hotel. I caught this footage."

Yang watched as the four Beconites perused the available missions, only for Ruby to suddenly look at her scroll, have a quick discussion with the other three, then the four left the area. Neptune showed a couple more clips, showing them making their way back to the hotel.

"Shortly after they returned to their rooms, this odd character walked into the same hotel," now Neptune showed a clip of a tall figure in ill-fitting clothing walking through a lobby and towards the same wing where Ruby's team was staying.

"That night, there was a fire down in the warehouse district and a few witnesses claim that they heard some shots, but nobody investigated. Still later, or you could say very early the next morning, Ren and Nora assisted this person back to their rooms. That was the same morning that Ruby and Jaune emerged from the park."

Yang growled at the memory.

"An interesting thing, no camera caught them going into the park."

"So you think they were performing a mission for this person?" Yang asked.

"It's possible, but the reasoning is awfully flimsy," he admitted. "I ran a check of sorts, to see if there was anyone who might be associated with Ruby, who did anything out of the ordinary in that time frame. Here's something interesting; it seems that Weiss' sister, Winter, is the Atlesian Military Attache to Mistral. She was in Mistral City at that time and the day after the fire, she informed the Mistralean Council that she was feeling ill and would not be available for the day."

"That isn't much to go on." Yang told him.

"I know, but there's something else that's interesting," he told her. "Winter is now here, in Kuchinashi. When bandit attacks grew more serious, she moved here to observe and advise. Maybe we can talk to her."

"Do you really think she'd say anything?" Yang asked. "Especially since it's very unlikely that she knows anything?"

"It's all I have," he admitted. "But didn't you say that Weiss came to Patch for awhile? Maybe offering to trade news on sisters will work." He smiled a bit. "She's been helping to repel the attacks, so she's supposed to get a dust allotment. The officer in charge of the wall won't trust just anyone with it, so one of us is going to have to take it to her. Why not you?"

This put Yang in an awkward position. She was used to strong-arming information out of people but it wouldn't work this time. Not only was Winter the official Military Attache, the older woman was perfectly capable of shredding her in a fight. Yang had also, on rare occasions, used her looks to get reluctant voices to open up. She was sure that this wouldn't work with Winter Schnee. No, her only hope was to face this honestly and hope that the woman both knew something and would have enough compassion to admit it.

Two hours later, Yang received and signed for a generous portion of ice dust from the ordnance depot. A few minutes later, she was at the offices for the Atlesian Military Attache, in the Kuchinashi Governmental Complex. After knocking on the door and receiving a request to enter, she stepped inside and, for the first time, was in close proximity with Winter Schnee.

"What is your business?" The woman asked, not bothering to look up from the report she was composing.

"Dust delivery," Yang answered, honestly. Of course, she didn't know how she was going to broach the subject of their sisters.

"Thank you," Winter closed the petition on her scroll. "I am certain that I will need to sign for the delivery..." Winter fell into silence and tilted her head curiously when she looked at Yang.

"You were on the same team as Weiss Schnee, when Beacon fell, were you not?" She finally asked.

"Yes," Yang made sure to get a signature for the dust even though it wasn't her overriding reason for being here. It soon became clear that Winter wasn't about to continue the conversation. "I had hoped to hear more about her. I haven't seen her for...a couple of months."

Winter's eyes widened slightly at the news. She was no fool and realized that the time frame Yang had just described meant that the blonde had seen her sister well after Beacon had fell.

"My sister's actions are dictated by her duties to her family, company and kingdom," the officer informed the younger woman, her words clipped and rapid. "Any such sharing of information could be considered a breach of security."

"Then I was wrong," Yang told her. "I was hoping that I could trade information...that you might know something about Ruby. I came here to find her and nobody seems to know where she went!"

"Get out of my office," Winter demanded. "You are attempting to gain classified information from me! I will report you immediately!"

For a moment, Yang thought of trying to force the issue, then realized that it was hopeless on several levels. "Fine!" she finally spat and spun on her heel. She stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her. She was shocked to hear the door open again, immediately.

"I will see you reported to the proper authorities!" Winter growled, seizing her elbow and ushering her down a hall and out of the headquarters building.

"I can go there myself!" Yang protested, yanking her arm out of the older woman's grip. Winter might me more skilled, but Yang still had the brute strength advantage on her.

"You will go where I tell you!" The officer replied. Several Mistralean officers looked curiously, but not overly so, out of their offices at the passing duo. The Atlesian quickly herded Yang out of the building.

"Now that we're away from any microphones, we can talk," Winter told the younger woman. "Keep walking towards your barracks and tell me what you know."

"I'll tell you what I can," Yang admitted, setting course towards the building that housed the student hunters. "A couple of months ago, a...another agent brought someone to my home, expecting my father to be present. He wasn't. The other agent determined that the best course of action was to get this person to Atlas. Weiss showed up, collected him...er...the person of interest, and left. I never heard if she delivered him...er...the person or not."

"Her mission was successful," Winter told her.

"I've also heard that she's taken control of the Schnee Dust Company," Yang added.

"I have heard the same thing," Winter admitted. "Also, that she has taken up company with a strange young man."

"He's a good guy," Yang told her. "I...can't tell you more than that. He's not about to betray or manipulate her. The...other agent...had an odd way of confirming this."

"Very well," Winter nodded. "I'm afraid that I cannot tell you anything about your sister."

"But..." Yang protested.

"I'm sure you understand," Winter told her, in an imperious voice. "It is my honor and my duty. Therefore, even if I were to know that _your sister and her companions are on an important mission_ , I would not be able to tell you."

"You mean that..."

"Furthermore, even if I were to know that _they are outside of the kingdom at this time_ ," it would be violating my responsibilities to let you know.

"Okay, thanks for that..." Yang tried to thank her, only to be interrupted.

"I have told you nothing!" Winter snapped. "Even if I had some way of determining that, _as of a few hours ago, all four of them were alive and well_ , I would not tell you, do you understand me?"

"Uh...perfectly," Yang assured her.

"Finally," Winter snapped. "even _if I were to learn of some significant change in her status_ , there is no way _I will let you know_ , even _if you remain in this area._ The situation here is more volatile than most realize, so we need every fighter we can muster, even partially trained students, do you understand?"

"Uh, of course," Yang told her. "Er...my apologies for trying to get you to tell me secrets."

"I understand your concern for your sister," Winter's voice was icy. "However, there is no way that I will reveal classified information. Now, I see no reason to report you to your current employer as long as we have an understanding."

"We do," Yang assured her.

"Very well," Winter offered a tight nod. "I will be checking on you periodically to ensure that you follow your instructions."

With that, Winter Schnee spun on a heel and stormed back towards the headquarters building. Yang watched her go, doing her best to stifle her relieved smile and maintain an offended glare. Finally, she stalked inside the barracks building, remembering to slam the door shut behind her. She quickly made her way to the room she shared with Neptune, Scarlet and Sage.

"I think some training is in order," she informed the three, using a tone that would accept no argument.

Dutifully, the three followed her to the training yard, where they found a corner away from other drilling students. Sage and Scarlet sparred, the clatter of sword on sword forming a barrier of sound between Yang, Neptune and anyone who would attempt to listen. Yang didn't tell him how she found out that her sister was alive, well and performing a mission, but she gave him the gist of the knowledge.

"That's good to hear," Neptune nodded, aiming a lazy slash that Yang caught on her gauntlet.

"But what's happening here?" Yang asked. "Dust is pouring in and the ordnance boys are converting it to rounds that we can use, but the guards want to make it seem like it's still in short supply."

"I don't know," Neptune admitted. "I think the commander is up to something, but I can't say what."

"I can say one thing," Yang told him.

"Which is?"

"If we don't take this seriously, anyone watching us is going to either think that we're dancing or talking conspiracy theories!"

With that, Yang launched a devastating two-punch combination that Neptune barely avoided. He skipped backwards, trying to get out of Yang's punching range and to a point where he could effectively use his trident. Yang, of course, was having nothing of it, pressing close and keeping him at a disadvantage. He finally managed to get his trident low and tangle her feet...at roughly the time she got a punch through his defense and sent him sprawling. This kicked off close to an hour of round-robin training between the four.

"Okay, what's on the docket for the rest of today?" Yang asked, as the foursome cued up for dinner at the dining facility.

"We've got squad training this evening," Neptune told them, checking his scroll. "None of us have watch tonight, but we're on to oversee more dust unloading tomorrow morning."

Yang nodded. When they first arrived, the Mistraleans in charge of the students didn't have a solid plan to make use of them. As the days went by, their days were more and more filled with training, patrolling and maintaining the facilities and equipment. The Mistraleans formed up odd students into the standard, four-person teams and evaluated the teams against each other. As one of the better teams, Neptune's bunch was one of the few to know how much dust was pouring into the area. The Mistraleans were now combining teams into two-team squads and drilling them in squad tactics.

During the evening drill, the students learned that the next step would be taking place in the next few days. At this time, every section of the wall was the responsibility of either the soldiers or the students. Soon, they would be integrated, combining the soldiers' firepower and discipline with the students' close-in fighting capability. Upon hearing it, Yang shrugged. It made sense, but such deep thoughts and strategies were something that didn't concern her. She preferred to concentrate on pair and team tactics, as well as individual skill, while waiting for word about Ruby.

One thing that Yang did not appreciate about working for the Mistralean Military was the early hours. Didn't they understand basic biology? Since humans' dominant sense was sight, they didn't function all that well at night. For this reason, humans were meant to sleep during the hours of darkness! Yet, for some reason, the officers insisted that everyone be up and moving before the sun. While she could probably give a wounded ursa a run for the money when it came to bad attitude in the morning, she mellowed pretty quickly. She was a supremely physical person, and the calisthenics and running put her back in a cheery mood. After breakfast, Neptune got another call on his scroll.

"There are some refugees being pursued by bandits," he announced, when reading. "It's just two, so why don't we split up? Yang, you're the toughest of us all. You go and watch the dust unloading."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" She asked him.

"We're not at your level, but the three of us can handle two refugees," he told her. "How about you? The dust is still very valuable."

"I can handle myself," she assured him. "If thieves try to steal the dust, I can at least hold my own until help gets to me."

"Fair enough," Neptune nodded, and the three guys left.

The Mistraleans were efficient, so it didn't take long for the dust to be unloaded and stored in secure bunkers. As the last of it was locked away, Yang took a few minutes to discuss her teams' particular needs with the ordnance technicians. While she didn't like the soldiers' standardized weapons, she had to admit that it made things easier when it came time to maintain an ammunition stockpile. There were now maybe forty students in the Kuchinashi area, and every one used dust in a different manner. Still, she was able to transmit both her and her teammates' requirements, so she was sure they would all have reloads in a day or so. She also arranged for a lightning dust crystal, in a few days, in case her cybernetic arm needed to be refuled.

Who knew, maybe she would be able to get enough dust to refuel Bumblebee by the time they left.

Any further contemplation was interrupted by a text message from Neptune, asking him to come to a sally port and speak to the two refugees that had just reached the kingdom. Shrugging, she set off in the necessary direction at a brisk pace. Soon, the inner gate to the sally port opened, allowing the rest of her team, and two more people, to emerge.

"Hey Neptune!" She shouted. "The latest shipment has been unloaded and the train's heading back north. The ordnance team is working on it and it looks like we're gonna have full loads! Now, what are we gonna do about..."

She stopped short when she saw who was with her teammates.

* * *

Two people, fit and hardened by rough lives, can cover a great deal of ground when they have the proper motivation. For Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen, self preservation proved to be a very powerful motivation. After escaping the immediate area where Raven's Tribe had been wiped out, they tarried for a few hours, hoping to find survivors. While some had perhaps survived the attack, Raven and Taiyang had been unable to locate any before increasing White Fang patrols forced them farther and farther away. When the eastern sky started to brighten, they gave up the effort of locating any remnants of her tribe and focused on getting clear of the region. As Raven had nowhere to go, she chose to accompany Taiyang.

The two set a zigzagging course to the northeast, occasionally dropping into cover when they spotted White Fang, occasionally finding themselves fighting for their lives. The White Fang didn't use the airships to scout for the refugees, nor did they make use of the special rifles. During the journey, Taiyang thought this through and didn't like what he came up with.

"The White Fang are getting ready to attack Kuchinashi," he declared around mid-morning. Raven simply looked at him with a blank expression.

"They were using the Sert Asiret to wear down the defenses," he continued. "But now they're ready to attack in earnest. They brought in a more powerful force and wiped out the Sert Asiret so that nobody would run and warn the kingdom of what was happening."

"Why would any member of the Sert Asiret want anything to do with Mistral?" Raven pulled herself out of her shock enough to question.

"Revenge," Taiyang answered. "Don't you want the White Fang, and Torchwick to pay for what they did?"

Raven only looked at him again.

"Who better than the Mistralean forces to do this?" He challenged. "They're strong, in the area and if the White Fang attack, they'll defend the kingdom. By warning the Mistraleans, telling them everything they know, the Sert Asiret would be striking back at the White Fang."

"Is this what we're doing?" Raven asked. "We're running to find someone strong enough to do our dirty work?"

"No," now Taiyang's look was just as challenging as hers. "I'm performing my mission, reporting on the stronghold where Salem might be. I'm also going to report on these events that might affect the security of the kingdoms. I'm also going to let the Mistral Council know that I personally saw Mercury Black, a man who played a key role in the attack on Vale, leading the White Fang."

"Still an errand boy," she murmured.

"Call me what you want," he shrugged. "I'm making my course in life, just like you did."

"You could be one of the strong ones," Raven told him. "Even now, the two of us could gather a group of free people from beyond the kingdoms and form a strong tribe. We could live the life we want, not a life of servitude."

Taiyang gawked at her, struggling to believe what he had just heard. "Are you insane?" He asked her. "Or have you been asleep for the last twelve hours?"

"What do you mean?" She growled back, her eyes flashing red and a hand on her hilt.

"No matter how strong you are, there's always someone stronger!" He yelled at her. "Isn't that what just happened? You were stronger than the Sert Asiret, they had something you wanted, so you took it from them! The White Fang was stronger still and took what they wanted! You got in their way!"

Raven's eyes remained red, but her grip on her hilt loosened.

"So what's your answer?" She asked. "To be weak and harmless?"

"No!" You're not even trying to see what's right in front of you!' It took a great deal to stir Taiyang to anger, but Raven was coming close. "You call me weak because I don't just take what I want. Instead, I come to agreements for what I want. I trade my ability for lien, and use the lien to get what I want."

"So what's the difference?" Raven demanded.

"The difference is that my customers are willing, and _capable_ of doing business with me again," he snarled. "Your _customers_ are usually gone for good! What would happen if you went back to that last village your tribe hit? Would you get food, weapons, clothing, recruits? No! You'd find a bunch of ruins. What would happen if you, Raven Branwen, went to the village that the survivors fled to? You'd get stones and arrows from the walls! Are you strong enough, alone, to take what you want from them?"

Again, Raven's grip tightened on her hilt.

"But look at me, the weak Taiyang Xiao Long," Tai continued, meeting her red glare with his own challenging gaze. "I'm heading to the Mistral border, where I'll be welcome! I'm all alone, but because I work _with_ the headmasters, the border guards will be willing to work with me! I don't have to try to batter my way through!"

"Neither do I," Raven told him, although her manner had calmed somewhat.

"I know," he held up his hands. "There are plenty of ways into and out of any kingdom, especially Mistral, if you know where to look. That's not the point. The point is; what's so weak about trading your skills for those that someone else has?"

"You become dependent," she told him. "Dependency upon anyone is a weakness that can be exploited."

"And you're not even more dependent?" He honestly laughed at the argument. "You're just as dependent upon others for your food, clothing and equipment as I am. The only difference is that if you turn your back on a customer, you might get a hammer or a hoe in the back of the head. If I turn to walk away, I get a villager telling me I'm welcome to come back again."

"We argued this in the past," Raven finally answered. "I have no intention of digging it up again."

"Fine," Tai nodded. "But I'm heading to Mistral, how about you?"

"I have nowhere better to go, at the moment," she told him. "And two together have a better chance of getting there than one by himself."

Taiyang nodded, choosing to not bring up the fact that she was looking for shelter from the White Fang.

Even the toughest of people eventually bow to exhaustion and Raven and Tai were no exceptions. At roughly noon, they decided it was time to rest a short time. They found a fairly tall tree and scrambled into its branches, from where they could keep an eye on their surroundings. Taiyang watched Raven out of the corner of his eye, seeing her expression change slowly from rage to resignation. The reality of her tribe being obliterated was finally sinking in.

Was it fortunate or unfortunate that she didn't have the luxury of examining her emotions? Was it fortunate or unfortunate that the only one with her right now was someone she had no intention of confiding with? Eighteen years ago, she would have been willing to open up to him...and he would have been happy to be her support. Today, this wasn't the case and Taiyang wondered if there was anyone who could play that role for her now. He wondered if any of her late tribe had ever moved into that position. Raven could be a surprisingly vulnerable person...but only if you spent a great deal of time cracking through the shell she had built. He sighed. As much as he didn't agree with her, he didn't want her tortured like this.

"The White Fang have an interesting problem," she finally mentioned. Tai risked a quick glance at her and noted that she didn't pause in her scanning of her surroundings while she spoke.

"If they put out strong enough parties to overwhelm us, they risk alerting the Mistraleans. If they keep their parties small enough to be beneath notice, those parties won't be able to handle the two of us. They could use their airships and spot us quickly, but again, they risk aggravating the Mistraleans."

"With their new weapons, why would they care?" Taiyang asked, as much to keep her talking as for curiosity.

"Unless the White Fang has become considerably stronger in the last several years, they're never going to be able to handle all of Mistral." She told him. "At least, if Mistral is alert."

"You seem to know more than I do," he admitted.

"You spend a fair amount of time between the kingdoms," she commented. "But you're only passing through, doing your missions. I've lived out here with the towns, the bandits and the White Fang. It's always been a bit of a balancing act. Of course, on Anima, Mistral is the strongest of all."

"How much farther to the border?" He asked.

"About twenty kilometers," she answered. "At least as the bird flies. We're going to want to keep the zigzag course."

"So if we rest until sundown, we might make it around sunup."

"That would be the smartest move," she nodded. "I don't exactly look like a civilian, so it's going to take some fast talking to get me inside the kingdom. I'd say we could sneak in, but I don't think you'd go for that."

"Not now," Taiyang told her. "I have to get the information to the council as soon as possible."

"Always obedient," she sighed. "You might as well try to get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

"Are you sure?"

"Tai, I'm not going to be able to sleep anyway. You might as well, since I can't." At his level look, she rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to murder you in your sleep and I'm not going to slip away on my own! Like it or not, we need each other! Two of us have a better chance of making it to the border and I'm going to need you once we get there. You're a headmasters' agent, so you'll be able to get me inside. By the way, I promise to be good once we get there."

"Fair enough," Taiyang pulled a bandanna over his eyes. One of Raven's good qualities had always been her honesty. Besides, she was right; they needed each other for the moment. Shielded from his former lover and current frenemy by mutual self-interest, he closed his eyes. An experienced campaigner, he was perfectly capable of falling asleep in broad daylight, in a tree.

A quiet hiss woke him. He quickly noted that the sun was just touching the western horizon.

"I hope you had a good nap," Raven whispered. "It's time to move."

"Any sign of the White Fang?" He asked.

"The forest sounds went quiet a few times," she shrugged. "Something, or someone, passed by fairly close, but I didn't hear or see anything."

Nodding, he scrambled down the tree with her right behind him. With a quick nod of agreement, they set off to the northeast.

It was a frightening trip, even for two as capable as they were. They were fully aware that faunas had better night vision than they did, and at least some would have superior hearing and a better sense of smell. Knowing this, they maintained their tactic of moving fast, pausing often to observe their back-trail, and setting a zigzagging course. For the most part, it worked. An hour before sunrise, it failed.

The broken moon was showing its unmarred face, providing more light than normal. Taiyang couldn't say what alerted Raven to danger; the years she had spent living the bandit's life had honed her senses and instincts to a level that he couldn't match. Those instincts saved their lives, as she suddenly hissed at him and dove into cover. While he didn't have a bandit's senses, he had the reactions of a seasoned huntsman...as well as the reactions of a teacher and father of two girls. The moment his companion dove for cover, he did, as well, going in the opposite direction. Bullets passed through the space where they had been a heartbeat previously.

Taiyang had no time to check if Raven had been wounded. He launched himself on a zigzag course, using trees to change direction faster than he could have by counting on traction with the ground. Twice, bullets missed him by centimeters as he closed upon his assailants. He could now see his attackers; illuminated by their own muzzle flashes. Kicking off of a final tree, he executed a tuck-and-roll and was suddenly among them. Before they could drop their rifles in favor of melee weapons, he drove a knee into a surprised man's groin, then drove fingers into his eyes. Taiyang caught the stunned man around the neck, using him to shield one side while he lashed out a kick at another White Fang. In the dim light, he failed to note that she was a deer or antelope faunas. Her antler dug painfully into his ankle when he struck her, but his aura protected him. The blow snapped the antler and stunned the faunas, allowing him to look back to the last three.

Raven was already in the middle of them. One was down, either dead or dying, while another clutched the stump where his arm used to be. The last one, who appeared to be a bird faunas, turned to flee. Raven's slash was precise, cutting an Achilles tendon and leaving her writhing on the ground. A quick knee to first his belly and then to his face dropped Taiyang's shield, senseless, to the ground. For a moment, the adrenaline rush, the thrill of combat rushed through Taiyang's veins. Looking at Raven, he could see she was feeling the same. For a moment, they felt like the young heroes on Team STRQ again.

Then shouts sounded in the distance.

"We have to move," she informed him. "No more zigzagging or deception. We're close to the border and they're on our trail. We run for it."

"Right," he agreed. He picked up another of the odd weapons, determined to provide the border guards with proof. Raven nodded her approval and they were off.

Raven led the way, now angling more to the north than the northeast. Behind them, they could hear the occasional shout as the White Fang tried to organize the pursuit. Taiyang and Raven shared a grim smile; none of their pursuers wanted to be the first to catch them. The eastern horizon grew more light as the woodlands started to thin slightly. Now, the fleeing pair passed the occasional shack and outlying farm. Taiyang felt guilty; what would the White Fang do to any residents?

"It won't do any good to stop," Raven gasped at her former lover, lungs heaving from the effort of both running and speaking. "If we stop, the White Fang will overwhelm us and then turn their attention to the locals."

Taiyang could only nod. If they kept moving, at least the White Fang would pass by any civilians. Such innocents would have the chance to escape before the terrorists returned.

The occasional shot now sounded, although the marksmanship, hindered by dim light, sparse woodlands, moving targets and running shooters, wasn't impressive. Tai noted that the shots were a mixture of the mystery rifles and dust rounds.

"If we accomplish nothing else, we're forcing them to use up their ammunition," Raven chuckled.

Tai offered a tight smile in return. The eastern horizon now appeared on fire, almost like his lungs felt. They burst out of the last of the woodland and into open fields. Fortunately, the road they found themselves upon was tree-lined and had ben constructed in an aesthetically pleasing, arcing course. In the back of his mind, Tai remembered the times he had mentally cursed the Mistraleans and their inefficient, curving roads. Now he took that criticism back, as the curved road prevented their pursuers from getting clean shots.

Now the walls of Kuchinashi appeared ahead and the fleeing pair could see activity on the tops. Putting on a last burst of speed, they held their hands high, trying to demonstrate clearly that they were fleeing. Now, a smattering of dust rounds were fired from the wall, rounds flew over their heads and burst behind them with the varied sounds of lightning, fire, ice, gravity...and the curses that such effects prompted from their pursuers. Taiyang's mouth drew into a hard line; there should have been many more rounds flying towards any group rushing the city walls.

"Refugees!" An amplified voice shouted from their destination. "We are opening a postern gate for you! Enter and wait in the space inside! Once inside, submit to the agents and surrender all weapons!"

Taiyang's relieved smile was cut short when a bullet grazed his hip. It was one of the mystery bullets, as his aura didn't deflect it. He kept on his feet; a huntsman learns to ignore pain when submitting to it will result in greater agony, and pushed himself to the limit of his endurance and strength. Now was perhaps the most dangerous phase of the escape; the open fields surrounding the city offered no concealment. While the guardians on the wall were firing rounds at the White Fang, it wasn't enough to keep them pinned. Eventually, one of them was going to get off a lucky...or skilled shot.

Just like old times, he and Raven started to weave, desperately trying to strike the balance between getting to the safety of the gate and presenting difficult targets. Somehow, despite the years apart and the arguments that had preceded them, they were in perfect synch with each other. Never all that far apart but never very close together, they continued to run for their lives. Several times, Tai could hear bullets zip by him and on a couple of occasions, he could feel the hot breeze they left in their wake. He also saw Raven flinch a few times, indicating that he wasn't the only target.

But now they were at the gate. More bullets tore into the ground at the opening, as the White Fang concentrated on the point to which their quarry was fleeing. The fire was slacking off, as the Mistraleans were hitting with their meager output of rounds. Every bit of experience and logic told Taiyang to dive low and tumble into the shelter ahead...so he did the opposite. Instead of rolling, he dove high, sailing through the portal with Raven on his heels. Bullets kicked up dirt beneath them as they flew into the shelter and safety.

They found themselves in a moderately sized, enclosed sally port, perhaps large enough to hold a half-dozen trucks. While the gate swung shut, Taiyang set the two mystery rifles on the ground and stepped away from them. Raven did the same with the one rifle she had carried but hesitated to set her sword down. Taiyang could see the turmoil on her face; a bandit without her weapon was always vulnerable to other bandits. It was a terrible thing to see her realize that she wasn't a bandit anymore.

She was a refugee.

With a fierce gesture, she undid her weapons belt and left it, with the sheathed sword attached, on the ground next to the rifle. She then stalked away from the implements and stood next to him. Moments later, an internal door opened and three young men entered the sally port.

Taiyang turned his teacher's eye on the newcomers, coming to the conclusion that all three spent a bit too much time on their appearance. One young man had red hair artfully brushed to cover his right eye. While he wore, for the most part, no-nonsense clothing, the military style jacket draped over his left shoulder wasn't a good idea; it could too easily tangle his arm if he had to shrug it off in a hurry.

The second young man was a very large fellow. He was a tall boy, and his open jacket displayed that his arms and torso were generously packed with wiry muscle. The large sword hung on a back holster looked formidable, but Taiyang couldn't help but find the man's fashion sense lacking. The open jacket offered a convenient handhold for a wrestler and while it displayed his well-honed abs, it wouldn't protect him from flame, ice, wind-driven sand...or a multitude of other dangers and discomforts that a seasoned huntsman had experienced.

Of the three young men who entered, Taiyang took and immediate, although minor, disliking to their apparent leader. While the teacher understood that youngsters tended to want to stand out, he had never been a fan of bizarrely colored hair...even though the young teens he dealt with on a daily basis exposed him to it almost constantly. In addition, the boy wore a 'roguishly loose' necktie. If Taiyang ever had to tangle with him, the first thing he would do was grab the tie, give it a good yank and turn off his breathing.

"Good morning," the young man, who Taiyang mentally dubbed Blue Hair, greeted them. At least he was trying to show some manners.

"It's apparent that you aren't typical civilians," Blue Hair continued. "I'll refer to you as hunters, if you wish."

"That's close enough," Raven shrugged. "Aren't you a little young to be handling border security?"

"These are troubled times," the young man replied. "Both hunters and dust have been stretched thin in Mistral." Suddenly, he slapped himself lightly on the head. "Where are my manners? My name is Neptune Vasilias. My companions are Sage and Scarlett. We have another companion who is on another errand at the moment. We are student hunters and the border guards have us conduct initial interviews as we are more capable than typical soldiers to handle ourselves should the interview become...unpleasant."

"So what do you wish to know?" Taiyang asked, while mentally praying that Raven wouldn't respond to the smug assumption that these three could handle the two of them.

"You were being pursued by bandits, who were carrying a type of gun that has given us a great deal of trouble lately," Neptune pointed out, while Sage examined the weapons that the two had brought with them. "I'd like to know how this came to be."

"I'll tell you," Raven answered, making Taiyang flinch. "Those were no bandits, those were White Fang. I'm a bandit myself. Let's get that straight right from the start. I'm no angel. My tribe wiped out the Sert Asiret, who were raiding the Mistralean borders. Shortly afterwards, the White Fang wiped out my tribe and pursued us all the way here."

With that, Raven explained exactly what had happened, being honest about her tribe's previous activities. Upon hearing that Taiyang was on a mission from the headmasters, Neptune asked him to scan his scroll on one of the wall stations. When the larger screen displayed his full name, the three students' eyes widened.

"You recognized my name," Tai commented. "Care telling me how?"

"You'll find out in a few minutes," Neptune assured him. "It would appear that your identities check out. However, I have to tell you that we think our headmaster is...well...something less than fully loyal to Mistral. I'd like to have the two of you speak to our officer before you head on to Mistral City itself. Well, there's someone else I'd like you to speak to, as well."

"Does this mean we can have our weapons back?" Raven asked.

"Of course," Neptune politely stepped back from her belt and sword. "We're going to keep the firearms, but your possessions are all yours." He hesitated a few moments. "Mr. Xiao Long, don't you have a weapon?"

"It's always with me," Tai shrugged. "Anyway, is there anything else you can tell us before we speak to your officer? I hate being caught between power players, and that's what it sounds like is happening here."

"Why don't I let our companion explain this?" Neptune led the way through the inner gate and into the kingdom proper. "You might be more willing to listen to her."

"Why is that?" Tai asked, only to be interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey Neptune!" Tai spun at the sound. "The latest shipment has been unloaded and the train's heading back north. The ordnance team is working on it and it looks like we're gonna have full loads! Now, what are we gonna do about..."

Yang Xiao Long stopped short, both physically and verbally, when she saw her father. Suddenly, she was running at him, throwing herself into his arms.

"What are you doing here?" They both demanded at the same time.

"A long story," they both answered, at the same time.

"Yang, I'll let you settle our newest guests into their temporary quarters," Neptune told the blonde. Without waiting for an answer, the three young men made themselves scarce.

Yang suddenly seemed to notice Raven.

"You!" She pointed at the dark-haired bandit. "You were on the train! You're on that picture that Uncle Qrow carries around! You're..."

"Yang," Taiyang heaved a weary sigh. "I'd like to formally introduce you to your mother."

He then looked up at the rising sun and cursed the fact that he hadn't managed to get much sleep recently. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Signal Academy must really be getting tired of staff showing up for a short time and leaving again. At least, Qrow would be getting tired of it if he were the headmaster. Unfortunately, his huntsman's instincts told him that things were about to come to a head and he needed to be where it was going to go down. This wasn't a good thing, since not only did he honestly enjoy his job at Signal, he wasn't fully recovered yet. His strength was back as well as his speed, but his stamina wasn't what it used to be.

Okay, there was another possible explanation for why he didn't have the endurance that he had back when he graduated Beacon, but he didn't feel like delving into that particular thought at the moment.

Instead, he finished packing his pack and took a last look around his brother's home. He refused to think of Tai as a coworker, he refused to think of him as a brother-in-law. They were brothers, bound by the tasks they had taken on and the experiences lived. In a way, Tai was more kin to him than his own sister was. This was fortunate, because the two of them really weren't cut out to get along.

You had to love a family member, even if you didn't really like him. Due to his semblance and lifestyle, Qrow knew that he would never have a house like this to call home. He didn't envy Tai his home, neighbors and daughters. Rather, he couldn't see how his sister could have turned away from it. If he could just find a good woman who was immune to his semblance, he'd be working on a house just like this within...it was no use thinking about things that weren't going to happen. With a resigned sigh, he walked out the door, Zwei on his heels, and locked it behind him. He left the key under the welcome mat, where the neighbor would find it and use it to check on the house and take care of the yard once every other day or so. He gave the building a fond and sorrowful pat before turning away. This house was more his home than his apartment, or even the hunting grounds where he had grown up. He had left it on missions more times than he could count and every time he wondered if he had just left for the last time. However, this was the first time that he had left it empty.

First Raven had left, never to come back. Then Summer had fallen on a mission. Ruby had left, at his urging, seeking answers and serving as bait for Tyrian. At his message, Taiyang had left the house that he had built and after Qrow came back, wounded, Yang had left. Now he was back on the road, taking Zwei along. He couldn't help but wonder if he had just permanently emptied this happy place. While he bore no responsibility for Raven and Summer failing to return, he had manipulated Ruby into leaving, and had sent word for Tai to hunt down Tyrian. Telling Yang that Ruby was in Mistral had certainly played a part in the young blonde heading out, as well. If houses could get angry, it was certainly mad as hell at him right now.

But still, the road was the road and necessity was necessity. A couple of days ago, the local scroll broadcasts started to show some recorded newscasts from the other kingdoms. Dust was starting to show up at the shops again and the price was dropping. The Ice Princess had come through and had undone some of Salem's work. Qrow's huntsman's senses told him that the Kingdom of Mistral was becoming less vulnerable and that meant that whomever had taken such pains to fracture the kingdoms was going to have to move fast if they were going to take advantage of the discord that was in the process of sorting itself out. Healed or not, melancholy or not, Qrow Branwen was determined to play a part if Mistral was attacked.

People in the know could move fast when they needed to, and there were few people as in the know as he was. He knew the commercial airship routes, he knew the commercial shipping routes. He also knew the smugglers' routes and who to talk to to get on certain airships or ships; even if said transportation didn't officially exist. Over the years, he had spent a great deal of time on bullheads and ships that various insurance companies were sure had been lost.

Even with his contacts, he was fully aware that he would probably not reach Mistral until after the major attack took place. So be it! If he showed up in time to help, he would help. If he only showed up in time to help pick up the pieces and recover, he would do so. If he arrived and the only thing left to do was to avenge those who had fallen, then dust help whomever Salem had tricked into doing her dirty work this time.

The rising sun warmed his face, driving off the dark thoughts. This was who he was; a wandering huntsman, heading off to where he would be least expected, less wanted and even more needed.

Look out Remnant, Qrow Branwen was back in the game!

* * *

 _A/N: As always, fond thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._


	23. Chapter 23

Winter Schnee was not a proponent of personal relationships. While professional relationships brought a certain synergy into a situation, making the organization somehow greater than the sum of its parts, personal relationships tended to represent a barrier to both personal and professional achievement. It wasn't that she never intended to have such a relationship; in fact, as a member of a prominent family it was both her right and her requirement. She simply had no intention of letting such a relationship interfere with her professional development.

The interactions she was observing between Yang Xiao Long, Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen drove the wisdom of her intentions home to her. A signal from her scroll had informed her that a person of interest was seeking to enter the kingdom and city, prompting her to hurriedly dress and make her way to the port of entry. There, she had seen Yang and her father reunite, with father and daughter throwing their arms around each other and showing no inclination to let go anytime soon. Winter Schnee wasn't adverse to this type of affection; father and daughter were clearly and beneficially fond of each other. Although Winter didn't approve of the degree that they displayed this in public, she found it quite touching. It was when Taiyang introduced his daughter to his current companion and former teammate that things had become...less than ideal.

By now, Winter had approached the group, even as the three young men who had partnered with Yang left. As a representative of General Ironwood and the Headmasters' Alliance, she had every right, as well as the responsibility, to debrief the school teacher. It was then, close enough to overhear the conversation but having not yet been noticed, that she learned how incredibly debilitating allowing personal feelings to intrude on professional activities could be. She had been shocked to learn that this woman, Raven, was Yang's mother. Now, the officer struggled to find an appropriate moment to interrupt what was becoming an increasingly prickly family reunion.

Taiyang tried to keep things marginally civil; Winter had to give him credit for that. However, the man was fighting a losing battle against impossible odds. The first volley had been fired by Yang, with the word 'abandoned' being used a great deal. Instead of wilting under the fusillade, Raven fired back with all the passion and anger that living between the kingdoms could instill in a person. Her return salvo made liberal use of the terms 'realist', 'naive' and 'reality'. The counterattack caught Yang by surprise, sending her reeling momentarily. Then she fired back with 'not my mother', 'family', and surprisingly, 'Uncle Qrow'. This last term had more affect on Raven than Winter could have suspected, but the bandit's eyes flashed red and she was clearly preparing for another counter-volley when Winter decided that this discussion could wait until after vital information had been provided.

"Ladies!" She addressed the feuding mother and daughter. "And Mister Xiao Long. As much as it pains me to interrupt this...reunion, I must point out that the two newcomers may have information that may prove vital to the defense of Mistral. Perhaps your exchange of opinions can wait until another time...and a more private setting?"

"That's probably a good idea," Taiyang sighed. Raven seemed to agree, even though Yang looked like she wanted to continue the discussion.

"Fine," the younger woman finally grated out, although her tone made it clear that her opinion and her word did not align. "I'm supposed to arrange for quarters for the two of you. Will it be a room or two?"

"I can live anywhere!" Raven snapped. "A roof over my head and a bed under my back are luxuries."

"Please make it two, individual quarters," Taiyang requested of his daughter. "Next to each other or with the whole kingdom in between them, it doesn't really matter."

Winter noted Raven giving the teacher a very slight glare about this before nodding her agreement.

"Very well," Winter's voice brooked no argument from the two. "Now that the living arrangements are settled, I'm sure that Colonel Arvaken will wish to speak to you."

"And he is..." Taiyang prompted.

"The commander of this sector of the Mistralean Defense Force," Winter informed him, spinning on her heel and striding towards the headquarters building, drawing them along by force of will.

"And you are..." Raven now prompted.

"My name is Winter Schnee," the Atlesian informed her. "Although you may call me Major. I am the military attache from Atlas. In troubled times, I have come to the area of greatest trouble."

"Since I'm not a soldier, I'll call you Winter," Raven growled at the officer.

"That is, of course, your decision," Major Schnee informed her. "But responding to such an address, much less providing food and shelter, will be up to whomever you choose to insult."

Perhaps forgetting that they weren't part of Team STRQ any more, Taiyang placed a hand on Raven's shoulder to keep her from antagonizing Winter any more. Perhaps forgetting that they weren't part of Team STRQ any more, Raven offered him a short nod, acknowledging that he was much better at getting along with the locals than she was. By the time Winter ushered them into a conference room, they both wore shocked expressions, surprised at how easily they had fallen into their long-ago roles.

"Good morning," a short, stocky and dark-haired man greeted them. "I am Colonel Arvaken of the Mistralean Defense Force. I am the commander of the southern defenses. I would like you to tell me what caused the two of you to show up at my door with a very powerful force of the White Fang, disguised as bandits, on your tails."

The man gestured towards some chairs and Taiyang arched an eyebrow at Raven, letting her know that he would support whichever story she chose to say. She allowed a small smile to appear on her face; she had already admitted to being a bandit earlier, it wouldn't do to try a song and dance now.

"It has to do with two bandit tribes in conflict and manipulation by a man named Roman Torchwick," she told him. "It all started several weeks ago, when he approached me with odd rifles..."

Taiyang felt a certain relief when Raven told the complete and unblemished truth. He didn't like lying and he was particularly bad and coming up with a plausible story on a moments' notice. However, a long-time schoolteacher, he noticed Winter Schnee discretely poke at her scroll, under the conference table, when Raven described the weapons.

* * *

What Taiyang could not know was the effect Winter's petition had, far away. Relayed by the Mistral CCT tower, the signal found its way to the computers in the Atlesian Embassy in Mistral City. In response, an antenna in the attic started to transmit. Even farther away, in Atlas, a similar antenna located in Atlesian Military Headquarters picked up the signal and decoded it. As it had Winter Schnee's call sign, the automatic systems routed it to General Ironwood's personal scroll.

As Winter had not given this signal an emergency priority, the scroll did not chime to wake the general. It was just after midnight in Atlas, and the commander was indulging himself in a rare, full night's sleep. Instead, he would read it upon awakening. On the off chance that he did not notice his scroll, he would certainly notice his desktop display once he reached his office. Since the office was secure, he did not bother turning the display off when he wasn't present. He had not yet cracked Weiss' spying method, so didn't know that the display was recorded by a scroll, hidden in an air vent and focused on the screen.

In a few hours, an unassuming rat would swap the scroll, full of data from a night's recording, with one that had been uploaded to a computer in the Schnee Mansion. By afternoon on this currently very new day, Weiss Schnee and Ron Stoppable would know that Winter Schnee, in her capacity as the Atlesian Military Liaison to Mistral, as well as an experienced agent, predicted an imminent attack on the kingdom.

* * *

"We then managed to reach this city," Raven concluded her tale.

"So, do you seek sanctuary?" The colonel asked her.

"I seek only to be here," she told him. "I came here with my companion, who is currently working for the headmasters. If you deem me too dangerous, or undesirable, I will leave your kingdom. As I am exhausted, I will gladly accept your hospitality for this day."

"I have another proposition for both of you," the colonel told them. "I want to hire both of you, short term, to help repel an attack that is sure to fall on this border in the next few days."

"Why do you think such an attack will take place?" Raven asked. She forced herself to not share a knowing look with her companion.

"I'm sure you've come to the same conclusion that I have," Arvaken told her. "Your rival bandits were intended to deplete our dust and put us on edge, attracting the grimm so we deplete our dust even more. Why would whomever was supplying them suddenly eliminate them? Because it's time to do something else. Even though this act happened well outside the kingdom, word and rumor could very well spread...even without the two of you to make your escape. That means that the attack is going to come soon."

He now rubbed his chin, his eyes far away as he considered other possibilities. "The fact that this young man...Mercury Black...was involved with the attack, as well as the attack on Beacon, tells me that the same organization that crippled Vale now seeks to attack Mistral. I have no intention of letting my kingdom suffer the same fate. That's why I want to hire the two of you to shore up my defenses."

"We're only two people," Taiyang pointed out.

"Two people who were on the most famed student hunter team ever," Arvaken countered. The officer allowed a grin to show on his face. "One who was, until today, the leader of the most fearsome bandit tribe on Anima. The other clearly has the headmasters' confidence."

While Raven's eyes flashed red at the reminder of her tribe's obliteration, she was mostly shocked. Taiyang was surprised.

"I'm not as out of the loop as you think I am," the colonel them an offended expression. "I'm a soldier, but I keep track of capable hunters and...others. Mr. Xiao Long, your reputation as a headmasters' agent, plus your years as a capable educator mean that you can be of more assistance than the typical huntsman can. Will you assist us?"

"I need to get a report to the Headmasters," Taiyang insisted. "It is urgent and if Headmaster Lionheart has been...compromised...I need to get it to either Headmaster Ironwood or Headmaster..."

"Simply give the message to Major Schnee," the colonel instructed him, with a surprisingly boyish grin.

"Colonel?" Winter asked. Her offended expression looked just a touch forced.

"You have some method of communicating with your home kingdom," Colonel Arvaken waved a dismissive hand. "They wouldn't have sent you without one. If the huntsman's information is vital, I'm sure you'll be able to get it quickly to General Ironwood, so that he is free to act as Headmaster Ironwood."

"I...will take such action after this meeting," Winter offered to Taiyang.

"Then I'll take the mission," Tai informed the officer.

"As for Raven Branwen," the colonel turned his eyes to the bandit. "The White Fang eliminated the tribe that you had led for more than a decade. Do you want revenge? If you stand with us, you'll have a better chance than acting alone."

"Revenge is a waste of time," she answered. "But I still have my reason. I am a bandit, colonel, and I wish to return to that life. If the White Fang remain in power, I will never be able form a new tribe."

"So you'll stand with us to fight the White Fang?" He asked.

"Yes, assuming that you'll let me go when the fighting is over," she looked at him, her eyes challenging. Can you promise me this, colonel? When the fighting is over, will you pay me and let me leave, knowing that I will form a new bandit tribe?"

"I can," he nodded. "Your tribe, the Siyah Tuy, never threatened my kingdom. You might have been a plague outside the kingdom, but you didn't harm Mistral."

"You are well informed," her face showed a certain grudging respect.

"It's my job to know about potential threats," he told her. "Is that your intention, should you reform a tribe, to prey on the towns between the kingdoms and leave Mistral alone?"

"It is how my tribe survived well before I became part of it," she told him. "It will be the course of wisdom when it it reborn."

"It's not the best news I could hear," he admitted. "But it could be worse. My responsibility is for Mistral, not the lands between the kingdoms. The offer is on the table."

"And accepted," she replied. "Now, I am exhausted. Perhaps I can see to the quarters you are providing. I'll be ready to earn my keep, and more, this evening."

"Of course," he nodded and rose, signaling an end to the meeting. Taiyang, Raven and Winter also got to their feet. "I'll have Major Schnee show you to your quarters, by now such information is on her scroll. I'm sure that she'll want to get Mr. Xiao Long's report, so that she can alert her superiors.

Winter had the grace to look at least a little guilty about this, but she quickly utilized her scroll and ushered the two to the guest quarters. She was no servant, so she simply made sure that Raven's scroll had the proper petition to open her lock before informing the older woman when and where meals and assemblies took place. Once Raven excused herself to rest...and perhaps come to grips with what had happened to her tribe, Winter showed Taiyang to his quarters then calmly waited for his report.

While she was a thorough professional, she couldn't keep her eyes from widening when Taiyang related following a man named Tyrian to a stronghold in the southeast of Anima. She was impressed when he was able to give a very precise location, despite being well out of scroll coverage. When he said that he suspected that a person named Salem was present, as Tyrian had an iron stinger when he emerged from the stronghold, she came to the conclusion that he was either insane or a very capable huntsman. She then allowed him to rest while she composed a message to General Ironwood.

XXXX

This time, the message caught the general already up. He reviewed the message and quickly called up a map of Anima, coming to the regretful conclusion that he couldn't order an immediate strike on this stronghold. Such a move would require a great deal of logistics support, which he simply didn't have at this time. However...

...If he were to rally to Mistral's assistance within the next few days...

...Then use the City of Kuchinashi as a logistics point, counting on the grateful residents to allow him to establish a fueling base...

It had possibilities!

A quick scroll message got his staff working on the supply problems. Of course, the message also displayed on the screen in his office, where it was also recorded by the hidden scroll.

* * *

Taiyang didn't get much rest that day; not that he minded, considering the circumstances. He had been reunited with his oldest daughter and she was herself again. Yang was still Yang, and demanded to know everything that he had done on his latest adventure. As she now had duties, she couldn't just sit around and listen, so he accompanied her. Anything for his daughter.

While she and the majority of Team SSSN guarded the unloading of several more dust shipments, he told her what he could about his travels across Anima. She was disappointed, but understood that he couldn't say why he had gone to the southeast. He then talked about his journey back and how dust had become so scarce on the entire continent. He and the young people expressed their puzzlement at this, as massive amounts were poring into the nearby bunkers.

After this, he described encountering Raven's tribe. The student hunters flinched when he told them about leaving the bandits in the ruined village. Yang in particular had been shocked, not realizing that there was a ruthless man deep inside her father. He then described the attack on the Sert Asiret, followed by the attack by the White Fang. When he mentioned Mercury, Yang's eyes flashed red.

"I want to meet up with him again," she grumbled. Taiyang chose not to question this resolve.

After the team duties came lunch. Again, Yang asked her father to join the team, and the three young men seemed to enjoy his company. He told them a few stories from his past, but decided to keep the conversation bland for a little bit. He didn't have a feel for these strangers, so he didn't want to offend. He noted that Raven wasn't present at the dining hall and decided that she needed sleep more than a meal. He shrugged, it was her decision to make.

After the meal came drill and once again, Yang asked her father to join her team. While Taiyang didn't spend as much time in the field as Qrow, he was every bit the huntsman as his brother-in-law. The drill quickly turned into Yang, Neptune, Scarlet and Sage teaming up against the older man.

And losing.

Tai saw the shock on his daughter's face when she realized how much he had held back during their sparring sessions back on Patch. He was taking a chance now, as he had taken a chance when he made the remark about her losing brain cells along with an arm. Then, as now, his chance worked out. Her look of shock turned into a look of determination, soon mirrored on the faces of the rest of her outmatched team. They tried harder, they tried different combinations of personnel and attacks against him.

They innovated.

They realized that this one simple schoolteacher could handle the four of them but instead of being daunted, they became determined to improve. As much as they felt humiliated when this unarmed man dropped them, repeatedly, into the dust, they were determined to do better. Seeing how capable he was gave them their example. He had reached a high level of skill, so they could as well. At the end of the training session, the four teens were exhausted, battered, dirty, sweaty and more determined than they had been in months.

Just the attitude the teacher wanted to drive home.

After drill, Major Schnee addressed the students and told them they were about to receive the dust that they had previously requested, enough to give them all full loads. She waited, impatiently for the cheering to stop. When that was finished, she informed them that they must keep the fact that they had sufficient dust a secret. Taiyang shared an odd look with the four teens at that. While a truck pulled into the training area and some soldiers started to call off teams. Winter Schnee called for Raven and Taiyang to join her. Walking towards the major, Taiyang could now see Raven emerging from a group of students.

"Raven Branwen, I have assigned you to care for Team ABRN," Winter informed the older woman. "I saw you drilling with them and you appear a solid fit."

Raven merely nodded.

"Taiyang Xiao Long, I have assigned you to care for Team NSSY," Winter allowed a scowl to cross her face. "They haven't formally named their team yet, but I saw you working with them. Not only are you a solid fit, but I suspect that you and your daughter would best be kept together, as you will merely worry about each other should you be separated."

"Yang is my daughter, as well," Raven pointed out, her tone cold.

"The two of you might wish to speak with Yang in a more private setting," Winter continued, barely batting an eye. "She will have some news about your other daughter."

"Ruby _isn't_ my daughter," Raven hissed.

"Your family issues are none of my concern," Winter coldly informed Raven. "Now, do either of you require dust?"

"I can use the gamut, in powdered form," Raven patted her scabbard.

"A couple of stone crystals, if you can spare them," Taiyang requested. "The quality doesn't have to be great."

Winter gave him an odd look, but noted the request on her scroll. "Your training and duties are now transmitted to your scrolls. I suggest you review this and prepare. I fully expect a major attack within the next few days." She spun on her heel and left. Taiyang and Raven shared a look, shrugged and reviewed the files on their scrolls.

"Ah, the military life," Raven sighed. "They are very fond of early mornings."

"They're feeding us, housing us and paying us," he countered, although he wasn't all that happy with his schedule, either. "I guess they can tell us when to work."

Raven offered a tight nod. "Tai, I want to talk to Yang before dinner," she told him. "I'll let you learn about...Ruby...first, but after dinner, I'm going to talk to Yang about...us. You've given her a distorted view and I'm going to straighten it out."

"I didn't..." Taiyang spluttered in anger, but controlled himself. "Fine! She deserves both sides of the story.

With nothing else on his schedule, Taiyang spoke to Yang and was immensely relieved to learn that Ruby was alive and well, although he was nervous to learn that she was on a mission beyond the kingdoms. He chuckled bitterly, as Winter was his only source of news about his younger daughter, he was now effectively shackled to the Atlesian officer. He then spoke to Yang and stressed to her to keep an open mind when she spoke with her mother later. With a heavy sigh, he watched his oldest daughter walk away to speak with her mother. He had nothing else to do, so he returned to his quarters, finally able to get a decent night's sleep.

His scroll's buzzing woke him. He checked the time and realized that it was a couple of hours before the very early time that he was supposed to wake up.

"Team ABRN, Team NSSY, Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen will all report immediately to the headquarters building," Colonel Arvaken's voice sounded over the device. "Bring full gear."

Taiyang was an experienced huntsman, so his pack was already prepared. He left his quarters at the same time that a door down the hallway opened and Raven stepped out. The two shared a short smile, acknowledging that despite the years, they still had certain similarities. They didn't share any words, but they walked together to the headquarters building to find Winter Schnee waiting for them.

"The two of you are prompt," she noted, handing Raven several vials of powdered dust and Tai two rock dust crystals. "The teams are not here yet."

"So what's the mission?" Raven asked. "It will lend us an air of authority if we seem to know a little more that the teens."

"Deep recon," Winter didn't smile, but she gave a short nod of approval at Raven's comment. "We have other reconnaissance assets outside the border. One of them managed to report a large contingent of White Fang moving into a position roughly four kilometers from here. This asset then went off line. Our mission is to confirm this gathering."

"Do you think they'll hit this soon?" Taiyang asked, giving one of the crystals an experimental rub down his forearm.

"If I were in command, they would strike this very night," Winter told him. She then downloaded maps to their scrolls, indicating the location that the asset had reported from and her intended course of action.

She had just finished when the two teams showed up, followed quickly by two airships. Winter took the ship with Raven and Team ABRN, while Tai accompanied his daughter's team on the other. While the teens put on a show of being nonchalant about the whole thing, Taiyang could see the nervous tension. The pilots were pros, making a series of low sweeps that would appear to be the crew observing things on the ground. On one of these sweeps, the team jumped off and scrambled into deeper cover. Tai led them on the course he had received from Winter, and soon the two teams were formed into one.

"We go west from here," Winter informed the two teams, which now formed a squad. "Bounding over-watch, I'm with lead team."

It was nerve-wracking and boring at the same time. First Team NSSY moved forward, accompanied by Winter, and took up firing positions. After that, Team ABRN moved forward, with Winter joining them as they passed NSSY. Their route led them into a ravine that widened into a small valley. The two teams hugged opposite sides as they continued down the valley. Winter then turned them to the north and their course led out of the valley, over a ridge and into a parallel valley. Halfway to the river flowing in the valley's heart, they ran into trouble.

Winter's insistence on proper movement paid off. She was with Team NSSY, which was just about to drop into their overwatch when bullets tore through the foliage in front of them. Apparently, the White Fang hadn't had enough practice with the special weapons, and had led the targets by too much. Team ABRN opened up, giving Team NSSY enough time to take cover.

"Hold here!" Winter snapped at them, then used her glyphs to launch herself forward in a zigzag course, faster than the eye could follow. Taiyang cursed, having quickly lost track of her in the foliage. He made sure that his charges were under cover and returning fire as best they could when, a few minutes later, a series of glyphs appeared and Winter returned, looking like a silver streak.

"I have what we need," she told Taiyang. "The valley ahead has a massive column of White Fang heading north. The attack will take place tonight! We now retreat!"

She summoned a large glyph, from which several small, spectral nevermores emerged. These avian grimm attacked the White Fang currently firing upon Team NSSY. As soon as the firing slacked off, Winter led the retreat, sending Team NSSY further to the rear while she rejoined Team ABRN. Taiyang led his team to a solid watch position and directed Neptune, Yang and Scarlet to fire down their back-trail while Team ABRN fell back. Winter rejoined NSSY as they passed.

"When you bound, move back and turn due west," she whispered to him. "Once there, do not fire unless you have a target."

Taiyang nodded, then directed his team to fire up the back-trail again. Once Team ABRN was in position, he directed the teens to retreat yet again. Winter rejoined ABRN as they passed, and Taiyang instructed his team to hold their fire and to be as quiet as possible. Once they were in position, Team ABRN retreated past them again, also keeping quiet and not firing.

They bounded several more times. At first, they heard what could have been pursuit behind them, but it was heading in the wrong direction, following their initial route. After the fourth bound, Winter addressed the two adults.

"We've broken contact," she told them. "Now it's time for speed. We continue farther to the west to the extraction point. It's on your scrolls, in case I fall."

With that, the eight teens and three adults took off at a rapid pace, keeping a careful eye out in all directions while they traveled. Taiyang quickly came to the conclusion that Winter Schnee was in incredible shape for a major. The eight teens quickly came to the conclusion that the three adults were in incredible shape. One by one, the teenagers started to to flag, having difficulty maintaining the pace that Winter set. Taiyang took a great deal of pride noting that Yang was the last of the teens to falter, and took a certain selfish pride in noting her look of amazed respect when she realized that her boring, over-protective father could run her into the ground. Finally, Winter called a rest break.

"Despite the fact that they couldn't keep up with us, the students have a great deal of stamina," she told Raven and Tai. Tai noted that she was breathing a little heavily. "I believe that we have left any pursuit well behind. We will now proceed to the extraction point with caution."

Raven and Tai agreed, then took up watch position while the teens gasped for breath. They took a short meal break, as well. Soon, they were moving again. After two more hours, they reached a forested hill that overlooked a lower, bald hilltop rising from a grassy plain.

"The bald hill is our primary extraction point," Winter informed the combined team. "And the scheduled extraction for this point is in another hour. We shall take up a watch position at this point. When the airships come within range, I shall be able to establish contact and we will lift off. Once at sufficient altitude, I will be able to establish a link with the Haven CCT tower and report to Colonel Arvaken."

They relaxed and kept a careful watch on the surrounding countryside. This restful interlude ended when Nadir hissed to the rest of them.

"I have White Fang approaching," he whispered, indicating the route they had taken to reach the hill. The rest of the team took cover and looked in the direction he indicated; except for Taiyang and Raven. The two experienced campaigners continued to watch their assigned sectors. Winter observed the location Nadir had indicated, then suddenly grabbed her scroll with a most unladylike, but very military expression.

"The airship is in range," she whispered. "I shall have them pick us up at the alternate point."

"That may not be necessary," Raven interrupted. "Are the White Fang climbing this hill?"

"Yes," Winter's expression said, louder than words, that she did not like being contradicted but she was too much of a professional to not listen to advice.

"How many?" Taiyang asked, sharing a quick look with Raven, understanding what she had in mind.

"Perhaps a half dozen," Winter now had a curious look for the two old teammates.

"You can make your rendezvous," Raven assured her. "Tai and I will stay here, draw their attention and incapacitate them. I've gotten a solid look at the extraction point and can open a portal to let the two of us catch up." At Winter's hesitation, she added, "there's no guarantee that the next point will be any better."

"Very well," Winter told them, after a moment's thought. "It's on you. Team ABRN and Team NSSY, let's move."

"Just like old times?" Taiyang couldn't help but smile at his old companion.

"Only we're much better than we were back then," she retorted, her smile making it clear that she was feeling nostalgic, as well.

The two concealed themselves as the teens, under Winter's leadership, hurried towards the bare hill. Yang had a concerned look on her face when she looked back, but Tai waved at her, hoping she would realize that they would be fine. Before long, the two airships appeared in the sky. While one stayed high, the other swept in towards the hill. Below the waiting duo, the White Fang patrol shouted and rushed towards their hiding place. Tai and Raven shared a quick smile...the enemy was trying to get to the high ground to observe and perhaps open fire.

The oncoming group had given up all attempts at stealth in their haste. They burst onto the hilltop and were caught completely unawares. Raven drew her sword and slashed in one smooth, powerful action, slicing through a rifle and striking the bearer's shocked face. His aura protected him from the worst of the cut, but he still went down, clutching a bleeding wound. Tai didn't have time to observe her further, as he jumped two more. He swatted a rifle to the side and buried his knee up under the woman's sternum. Even with her aura, the blow forced all of the air from her lungs, causing her to drop to the ground.

He spun and swept the legs out from under another man, using the motion to throw the weapon he had seized off into the forest. He extended his spin into a full circle, catching the falling man in a wrestling hold and tackling him into two more stunned White Fang members. The four of them fell into a confused heap, with Tai on the top. At this close range, weapons of any sort were useless. Taiyang was in his element, landing precise strikes on joints and pressure points. He drove an elbow into one man's solar plexus and caught a woman's hand in a wristlock, twisting until a joint snapped. Jumping to his feet, he delivered a stomp-kick to the last man's knee, breaking the joint. Tai then threw the three White Fang's weapons into the forest and turned, seeing that Raven had the last of the patrol down.

His old teammate re-sheathed her sword and activated the dust controls. A moment later, she drew and slashed the air, forming a red, glowing portal. As always, the portal was narrow so the two had to jump through sideways, pressed close against each other. In her haste, she had formed the other end of the portal somewhat higher above her target than was normal. The two tumbled across the ground, clinched together. They came to a stop with her atop him and for a moment, the adrenaline of the mission and her body on his made him remember what they used to be to each other. They quickly disentangled and jumped into the second airship, which was just taking off with Team NSSY aboard but Tai spotted a slight blush on Raven's face.

Apparently, she had memories much like he did.

In the lead airship, Winter Schnee activated the proper petition on her scroll once she detected a signal from Haven Tower. Moments later, Colonel Arvaken knew where and when the team had encountered the White Fang column. After this, the Major activated another petition, which prompted the computer in the Atlesian Embassy to activate the low-technology transmitter.

Far away, in Atlas, General Ironwood read the high priority message. He immediately alerted his strike force and then performed some calculations. If he scrambled now, he would arrive at the City of Kuchinashi in the middle of the night. A night battle between the White Fang and the Mistraleans would be confused enough without his troops getting in the middle of it. He decided to wait four hours before leaving, trusting the Mistralean soldiers, and Major Schnee, to hold out until sunup, when his troops would arrive and prove their commitment to assisting the other kingdom. Then, he could consider a strike against Salem's stronghold.

* * *

"I do not believe that this is entirely a coincidence," Ren told his teammates, as he watched the last of the latest grimm dissipate into vapor.

"We're bound to run into grimm," Ruby shrugged. "We don't have Uncle Qrow shadowing us and killing them like we did when we started out."

"It isn't the number of grimm encounters that concerns me," the taciturn young man corrected her. "It is this new type and how they've chosen to appear now."

"I'm still not understanding," Ruby admitted.

"The entire continent of Anima seems to be suffering a dust shortage," Ren pointed out. "It is at this time that a new form of flying grim appear. Even student hunters such as we are capable of dealing with most remnant-bound grimm without resorting to dust. Dealing with flying grimm, even these harpies as the locals have named them, is a dangerous proposition when we don't have dust to strike them down from afar."

"So you think it's a conspiracy?" Nora asked him.

"The timing seems just too beneficial for someone who wants to see the grimm prove triumphant," Ren noted. "Perhaps Cinder, or this Salem she supposedly works for, introduced these grimm to take advantage of the dust shortage."

"Or she may have introduced them to make it worse," Nora pointed out. "They're a lot weaker than nevermores or gryphons, but they can hover above us and use their screeches to wear us down." She frowned. "I still want to have a word with whomever decided to give them boobs."

"I'm not convinced that it's anything more than coincidence," Jaune announced.

"The grimm, or the boobs?" Nora asked.

"The grimm," Jaune scowled at the short girl. "But for the sake of argument, let's say that it was intentional, that this Salem character did it to both make the dust shortage worse and to take advantage of it. What should we do?"

"That is what bothers me more than anything else," Ren admitted. "I do not know what course of action we should take, other than continue with what we are doing."

Ruby heaved a sigh and scanned the horizon again. They had ridden shotgun with a truck convoy, leaving the town of BatiKiyisi, bound for the town of Soguk Su. While traveling via truck was much quicker and more comfortable than traveling on foot, it wasn't as fast as she had hoped. While the road was fairly well-maintained, the recent upsurge in grimm activity meant that the maintenance crews hadn't been on it recently. As a result, the trucks had to go slow, especially on curves and when approaching hills, to make sure they could avoid obstacles that might be hidden by such terrain features. As a result, the convoy moved much slower than she had hoped.

She took some solace in knowing that it was still faster than walking.

While her slightly older companions continued to discuss the implications of these new flying grimm, she let her attention wander back to the drivers, who had just emerged from their vehicles to once again start filling in the hole that had halted the trucks several minutes before. It had been while the truckers were laboring to make the road passable that the harpies had struck, driving the civilians back into the vehicles while Team RNJR struggled to drive them off. Like Ren had said, fighting the creatures without dust hadn't been easy. Once again, Jaune had used himself as bait, several times, to draw them down into ground combat. Ruby knew that her blonde friend had a lot of aura, but he was taking an awful lot of chances. She didn't want to lose another friend.

She spun around, about to tell the team that they needed to keep a watch out, but she realized she didn't have to. They were every bit as experienced as she and had moved their discussion to the roof of one of the trucks. They stood, back-to-back, still talking as they kept an eye on their surroundings. For a moment she considered joining them but decided to walk over to the infill effort and estimate how long it would take to get moving again.

"That's a pretty sad look on your face," the caravan master noted.

Ruby offered a wan smile. He was a friendly man who worked his employees hard but was still kindly. It was a far cry from traveling on the Rahatsiz.

"You should be smiling," he told her. "You just earned some respectable lien and none of you were hurt."

Ruby continued to smile. This was what she wanted to do; protect the innocent from the grimm. However, she was starting to wonder if the rest of the life was what she wanted. The first few months after leaving Patch had been new and exciting, an adventure! But now she was becoming more aware of how long she had been away, how long it had been since she had seen her father or her sister. She missed them so much! She missed Weiss and Blake, she missed Zwei, she even missed Qrow, even though she had seen him only a couple of months ago.

"We'll have the hole filled and be on the road again in about an hour," the master assured her.

Ruby offered him a nod but it wasn't the hour's delay that was bothering her. She had noted that the days were starting to get shorter. She had started this quest in the Wintertime. She and her companions had been on the road, in one form or another, through the Winter, Spring and now most of the Summer. Autumn was just around the corner, marking close to a full year since the fall of Beacon. Nearly a year and they still hadn't found the answers they had come all this way to find. Somehow, she felt like she was really living out here on the road but in some other way, she felt that life was passing her by.

She wanted to go back to Beacon and continue her education; she was sure of that, but what about everything that came with it? She would love to put Team RWBY back together, but she didn't want to break up Team RNJR. What would she do if her companions didn't want to go back to Beacon? Could she say goodbye to them? She had traveled with them, shared stories and jokes, fought with them but the times she really cherished were the quite times, when they were seated around a campfire or at an inn's fireplace, discussing the future and going over what they had done. As much as she missed her family and her old team, she knew she would miss Ren, Nora and...Jaune, just as much.

She heaved a sigh. Maybe it was because Ren and Nora were always so close that she found herself spending a great deal of time talking to Jaune. Maybe it was because she remembered that his was the first friendly face she met at Beacon. Maybe it was because he was out of his depth, missing Pyrrha and so sad that made her want to support him. The long and short of the whole thing was that she really didn't like the thought of saying goodbye to him.

That, and she had noticed that he was kind of cute.

That realization prompted her to thump her head. This was a serious mission, so there wasn't time for...that kind of stuff. Still, she remembered Nora, on seeing them sitting so close together, saying that if either of them had a lick of sense, it would have been exactly what it looked like. She remembered walking out of the park in Mistral City, putting on the show that the two had been...spending some couple time. Somehow, she didn't feel all that wrong holding onto his arm and resting her head against him.

She shook her head again, trying to get the thoughts out. Even if he was interested in her, she had no time for a boyfriend right now. While her father hadn't told her and she had never asked, she suspected that when he and Raven...became more than teammates...it had a bad effect on their team. Besides that, she had no idea what to do with a boyfriend. Did you kiss him all the time, did you cuddle, were you supposed to do...more? That thought brought a blush to her face. There was no way she was going to do _**that**_ anytime soon.

As much as it was seeming more and more interesting.

Fortunately for Ruby's nerves, the caravan master was a solid judge of labor time. Within the hour the hole was filled and the trucks were winding their way along the road, climbing from the coastal plain. Evening was falling when they reached a point where such caravans had established overnight lodgings. A flat point allowed the trucks to pull off of the road and into a circle. Soon, the drivers had divided chores for the night, some gathering firewood while others performed maintenance on the vehicles and prepared their food for the night. By the time night had fallen, simple fare was cooking over wood fires while a couple of jugs were passed around. Stories were told and a guitar and a harmonica made an appearance, allowing songs to be sung.

"One of us should stay on watch at all times," Jaune told his friends. "I'll take the first."

Ruby once again sighed a little. For some reason, much like herself, Jaune didn't feel right joining in the festivities. She understood that it felt too much like betraying the memory of those who had fallen or had been injured. She wondered how long it would take the two of them to adapt the more realistic attitude that Ren and Nora showed. Deciding that such thoughts wouldn't help things, she helped set up their camp in one corner of the truck space and watched her friend take up a guard route, walking along the roofs of the trucks.

His hand on her shoulder woke her in the night for her turn on guard. He returned to his patrol while she pulled on her boots and her hood. They shared a nod when she was ready and she watched as he removed his armor and boots before crawling into his sleeping bag. Rather than walk a patrol, she found several concealed spaces between tractors and trailers and alternated between them, watching and listening to the night. It was peaceful, which kept her mind full of the thoughts she had before. The night had no answers, only a vague assurance that whatever path she took, things would somehow work out. Feeling somehow uneasy and comforted at the same time, she woke up Nora then went back to sleep, once her friend was on watch.

The morning came too early for her taste, but a hot cup of coffee and a plate full of biscuits and bacon had her ready to move. Once the caravan started again, it didn't take her long to realize that staying awake in a slow-moving truck wasn't an easy thing to do. After some more time had passed, she realized that she didn't have to stay awake. She had enough of a signal to talk to her companions, so they shifted off being able to nap during the day. There were no unforeseen delays that day, and they stopped for the night high on the eastern slope of the pass.

As the drivers performed their routine tasks, an airship appeared over the southern horizon and made a slow approach towards the road, passing to the west, and higher on the slope, than where the trucks had formed the defensive circle. It dropped low, passing out of sight for several minutes, then rose back into the air and flew off, going back to the south. The caravan master called the team to him.

"There's something wrong with that," he told them. "Something odd, the sort of thing that you might be involved in."

"But we're here to..." Jaune started to protest.

"Don't act like I'm a fool!" The man snapped at the blonde. "Students you may be, but tough students you are. You're up to something more than escorting a caravan of trucks, something that made you want to follow the road between BatiKiyisi and Soguk Su. Now, an airship shouldn't be out after dark and it shouldn't be dropping on the road. If there were some emergency, it should have headed for the nearest town, BatiKiyisi, not gone west! Tell me honest, why are you out here?"

"We are attempting to track an international criminal, known as Roman Torchwick," Ren admitted. "We believe that he has some very powerful weapons, and that he is on this trade route. He managed to put us on a false trail a couple of weeks ago. As we are low on lien, we sought gainful employment while following him."

"And why are you doing this?" He demanded.

"We are working for an agent of one of the kingdoms," Ruby told him. "We won't say who, or which kingdom."

"And what happens to these horrible weapons when you find them?" The caravan master's gaze was intense.

"We destroy them...as best we can," Nora answered.

"Answer me true," he insisted. "You don't want to grab them and use them?"

"No! "Ren told him. "They're supposed to be incredibly dangerous, able to destroy a city. We have some instructions as to how to disable them, but we do not know if we will be able to do so."

"I've been dealing with folks for a lot of years," the man mused. "So I can usually tell when someone is lying to me. You have your secrets, but you're not telling me falsehoods. I think you had best go look into where that airship went down. The only reason such a craft would have for being out here at nightfall is to do something secret. We'll be fine here for a short bit. If you can't get back here before daylight, go to the road and we'll pick you up on the way by."

After a short conference, the team took his advice. Ren led the way, as he was the stealthiest and had a sense for danger approaching. They hiked for just over an hour before they spotted a fire burning in the woods, south of the road, almost at the very peak of the pass. Ren didn't trust the others to be quiet enough, so he placed them a safe distance away while he stalked closer. Ruby, Jaune and especially Nora were very nervous, although he wasn't gone very long. His face was grim when he returned.

"Mercury Black is sitting by the fire, up ahead," he whispered to them. "He seems to be waiting for someone, because he keeps looking towards the road."

"We stumbled on to a rendezvous of some sort!" Ruby whispered back. "He works with Torchwick, so we should keep an eye on him."

"I've found a good space to do that," Ren nodded. "We can take turns at this location, while the rest of us keep a little farther away."

"Where we'll be less likely to make some noise that will be overheard," Nora explained to the other two, driving home just how much experience the two orphans had picked up over their years of looking out for each other.

"Wait," Jaune interrupted. "Let me set up the communication device. I should report that we found Mercury. If Torchwick shows up, Winter will need to know that, as well."

"Good thinking," Ren nodded. "If Torchwick shows up with the bombs, this is a suitable place to try to destroy them. We are well away from any towns or kingdoms."

Ruby accompanied Jaune while he crept a short distance farther away, until the fire's light could no longer be seen. She helped him set up the antenna and then held her cape over his head, blocking any light while he typed a message on his scroll. She kept her cape over the two of them while he transmitted the message, again getting an automated response. With his scroll no longer emitting light, she pulled her cape off of them and they returned to their teammates, leaving the antenna and transmitter in place. By the time they got back to their assembly point, Ren had returned to his observation point.

"This could turn into a long night," Nora informed them. "We might as well draw straws, so that two of us can be asleep, one on watch here and one watching Mercury."

While this made sense to Ruby, headlights appeared in the distance, on the road, before they could implement the plan. Nora gave them a quick nod, put her finger to her lips to indicate that they should be quiet, and led them towards the observation point. During the trip, the headlights vanished, and they heard car doors slam. After they reached Ren, they could see that Mercury was standing and looking towards the road. Soon, they heard Roman Torchwick's unmistakable voice.

"...and here we are!" The criminal grandly declared, striding towards the fire with Neo and Emerald in tow. "The young man is good for his word, where he needs to be, when he needs to be here!" His voice became slightly threatening. "Now, all we need is for him to tell us that he got the job done."

"I got my job done," Mercury answered, while Torchwick lit a cigar. "I had enough time to update Cinder."

Torchwick choked slightly.

"She's very interested, and more than a little nervous, about you coming through." Mercury smirked at the older man's nervousness. "And I guess Salem is a little...uneasy as well. Cinder is expecting me back to explain the situation within a week, so I really hope you have some good news for me to pass along."

"Okay, fine," Roman sighed. "Everyone pull up a seat and get warm. Your Uncle Roman will tell you why we went on this little sightseeing tour through Anima's armpits."

Mercury had lit his fire near a stump, which he had already claimed. Roman, Neo and Emerald each had a blanket, which they spread on the ground and sat upon. The orange-haired man twisted his neck, cracking it, before starting his tale.

"You see, kiddies, it all started with the great war," he began.

"I don't think we need to go that far back," Emerald interrupted.

"Little girl," he snarled. "If you don't want to go back to Cinder without a tale that you can use to blame everything on me, just keep bothering me when I'm telling you what's going on." Emerald glared at him, but offered a short nod.

"Okay, during the great war, Mantle and Mistral were allied. So when the fighting stopped and Mantle became Atlas, those fine people who look down on all the rest of us wanted to be ready in case their friends needed help. They made some top secret plans and kept them under lock and key. Of course the Atlesians, those finest examples of civilization on Remnant, decided that faunas were only good for menial labor, like cleaning rooms and emptying trash cans. The Atlesians were careful, but eventually there were a few slip-ups and some faunas got their paws on the plans, which meant that they went right to the White Fang. Adam Tauras told Cinder as part of the deal he made with her."

"Okay, interesting little bit of history," Emerald rolled her eyes. "So why did that put us here?"

"Because, you mouthy little girl, it just so happens that if Atlas decides that its old ally, Mistral, is in trouble, the Atlesian military will jump aboard every airship it can get it's clean, white-gloved hands on and rush to Mistral's aid. Those great geniuses guessed that if hostilities broke out again, the CCT System would probably be taken off line, so they decided to use first the town of Soguk Su, then BatiKiyisi, as reference points to guide them on their way. Should the Atlesian air fleet come out to play, they're gonna fly right over his pass, where we can wave as they go by."

"Wait!" Mercury stared at him. "So that's why you had me arm the Set Aserit tribe with those new weapons and have them raid the southern border? Then is that why you had me arm the White Fang, have them wipe out the bandits, and attack the kingdom?"

"The young man gets a gold star!" Torchwick smirked. "The bandits got the Mistraelians' attention, and I'm sure that they have some way of letting Atlas know what's up. Once the White Fang launch a full-blown attack, the Alsatians are gonna come this way in a hurry."

"So that's why you left one bomb in BatiKiyisi?" Emerald asked, prompting a horrified exchange of glances among Team RNJR. "To wipe out the Atlesians? Why not let everyone go to Mistral City and set it off there?"

"Do you believe everything you've ever been promised?" Torchwick snapped back. "Sure, Cinder says that these things are greater than nature's wrath made of fire! But who do you think gets the blame if one goes off and it isn't all it's cracked up to be? Yeah, dear old Uncle Roman! Well, this is the test. We have that oh-so-dedicated White Fang member down in lovely BatiKiyisi. When he sees the Atlesians overhead, he'll set off the bomb. If it turns out to be everything that Cinder promised, the Atlesians will be wiped out and we can detonate the other two when they're in position. If it turns out to be a firecracker, I can let dear Cinder know, so she doesn't make a flame-touched ass out of herself when she tries to get freaky with Mistral and Atlas."

"But why through the swamps?" Emerald persisted.

"Because we were being followed," Roman rolled his eyes, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Do you really think it was a coincidence that our warehouse had a break-in? Was it just a chance that the burglar happened to be a well-trained huntress, with two damn tough assistants? What are they teaching kids these days? In a city, a watcher could have blended in with the crowd and kept an eye on the things. Out in the countryside, any watcher can be sniffed out!"

"Was somebody following them?" Mercury asked.

"Ruby," Emerald answered.

"Whoever broke into the warehouse wasn't a typical burglar," Roman told them, his voice now more conversational. "I'm assuming that she was working for the Kingdom of Mistral, and was better at planting tracking devices than I would be at finding them and removing them. She never got her hands on one of the bombs, and that was the one I left in Mistral City. As for the other two, I had to get them out of the kingdom, out of range of the Mistral CCT tower, so little miss cat burglar couldn't track them from the comfort of her own office."

"How'd you find out Ruby was in Mistral, much less tracking the bombs?" Mercury showed a certain professional curiosity.

"By wading through the swamps," Roman's tone and expression were smug. "The little pest still has dreams of being a huntress and hasn't grasped reality yet. When some little slime-hole of a town came under attack, she and her newest batch of idiots couldn't help but save the day. Well, they put her in a disguise but there aren't many undersized huntresses around that use something like that scythe of hers. Word got around and we heard it. We gave them the slip and I hope they're all still wandering around that damn island. With any luck, they'll reach BatiKiyisi just in time for the fireworks."

"So who's she traveling with now?" Mercury asked.

"That redheaded rube's old teammates," Roman snickered. Both Jaune and Nora started to growl, prompting Ruby and Ren to quickly place hands on their shoulders. "I guess they're all as idiotic as Little Red and the redheaded simp! They must have some idea of being the great avengers! We'll see how far that gets them."

"Okay, you've proven your great genius," Mercury rolled his eyes, his tone indicating sarcasm but a certain, grudging respect. "So what's the rest of the plan? Cinder isn't going to be happy with your usual hints and tales."

"Okay, kid," Torchwick had suddenly become deadly serious. "The last bomb is aboard the Kaltes Schiff, which will dock in Atlas in another week or so. The plan is that we draw the Atlesians into their rescue mission. Our loyal animal in BatiKiyisi sets off the bomb. If it works as advertised, you let Cinder know that the Atlesian air fleet has been destroyed, she has a bomb in Mistral and another about to be in Atlas. She can make the decision when to set them off. On the other hand, if the bomb doesn't deliver as promised, the White Fang and the Mistraleans get to have a lovely war of mutual annihilation and Cinder doesn't make an ass out of herself by making threats she can't back up."

"I hate to admit it," Mercury shook his head. "You really thought this one out. When do..."

Ren drew the others close to him, preventing Ruby from hearing the continuing conversation.

"Get this information to Winter," he hissed at Ruby and Jaune. "Nora and I will continue to observe them."

"But what about BatiKiyisi?" Ruby demanded, struggling to keep her voice low. "All those people! If the bomb is as dangerous as what they say..."

"The only thing we can do is report!" Ren insisted. "If the word gets out, Atlas may change course! If the fleet doesn't go over the town, the bomb won't detonate!"

"Right!" Ruby nodded. "C'mon Jaune."

The smaller girl practically dragged the tall boy behind her, rushing to the antenna they had left. She threw her cape over him, fidgeting relentlessly while he composed a message and connected it to the transmitter. It seemed to take forever for the transmitter to send, and even longer to finally get a reply.

"Another automated response," Jaune swore under his breath. "What else can we do?"

"I don't know," Ruby admitted. "Let's get back to Ren and Nora. Who knows that those four might try?"

The two shared a terse nod; if the foursome they were watching discovered them, they were in big trouble. They found Nora at the assembly point.

"Ren stayed at the observation point," she gestured to the large tree they had sheltered behind. "Those four are just trading insults and jokes now. I'll go relieve him in an hour or so."

Jaune and Ruby nodded and pulled their sleeping bags out of their packs. This close to an enemy, they weren't about to crawl into them, but it gave them something warm and soft to lie upon. Nora offered to stay awake, as she would be spelling Ren shortly, and didn't want to fall asleep, only to have to wake up again right away. It was chilly at this high altitude but Ruby was exhausted. After lying down, her next memory was a stirring waking her.

"Torchwick's group is doing much as we," she heard Ren's soft voice report. "One is remaining awake while the rest of them sleep. Nora is already at our observation post. You'll have next watch here."

Jaune nodded. Ruby could feel the motion, even with her eyes closed. With a blush, Ruby realized that she had slithered most of the way off of her bag in the night, practically joining him on his own.

" _The cold night,_ " she thought to herself. " _He was warm, so I cuddled up close._ "

It was a perfectly logical explanation, but didn't explain why she felt a little grouchy about him getting up to take his turn on watch. Ren settled on his bag, on her other side, while Jaune's footsteps padded around the campsite. Even though she missed his warm body, she was soon asleep, once again.

He next awakening wasn't as gentle. Jaune's large hand grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her.

"Wake up!" His voice hissed. Her eyes flew open to note that he was shaking both her and Ren awake. "There are airships up above us!" Jaune told them. "Atlesians coming in from the west!"

Ruby's heart plummeted even as she scrambled to her feet.

"What time is it?" She demanded.

"You've been asleep a couple of hours," Jaune whispered. "I was just about to wake you up. I want to watch Torchwick's bunch, see what they're doing."

"That makes sense," Ren yawned, as Ruby again fidgeted at how long it was taking them to get ready. Finally, the three were sneaking to the observation point, noting that Torchwick's fire was once again burning and he was running his mouth again.

"...so now we're gonna see if that bomb's all it's supposed to be." He was saying.

"And if the White Fang member in the town is as dedicated as you think he is," Emerald's voice countered. Ruby and her companions were now approaching Nora's position. In the dim light from the campfire, the ginger-girl's expression was horrified.

"Do you really think Cinder would lie about the bombs?" Mercury asked.

"No," Roman replied, sounding almost bored. "But someone else could lie to her. If someone bigger than her was to lie to her, it would be a lot easier to blame me for the screw up and tell a superior that her toys were broken. Certain waste products roll down hill and I've been in the valley long enough to learn how to shelter myself from that sort of thing."

"So maybe you can tone down the self-congratulations and tell us what happens next," Emerald growled at him.

"Ah, such gratitude," he sighed, his arms out wide. "Well, it's about a half an hour's flying time for an Atlesian airship from here to the town." Now, he pulled an old-fashioned pocket watch out of his jacket. "I started timing when they flew overhead, so it should be about another ten minutes before they're in position."

"In other words, we wait," Emerald huffed.

"You did ask," Roman pointed out.

While Emerald looked angry, she didn't respond. Instead, everyone waited, looking to the east, wondering if they would even be able to tell if the bomb was detonated. The tension built until...

"Well, it looks like your White Fang operative wasn't as dedicated as you thought he was," Mercury smirked at Roman. "Or maybe Cinder's bomb wasn't what it was supposed to be. It's just a typical, quite night in Bati..."

He was interrupted by a sudden flash of light, as if a professional had just taken a photograph of the entire area. Mouth open in horror, Ruby stared to the east, at a growing point of light. It was still too early, it should remain night for several more hours, so it appeared that a new sun was rising over where BatiKiyisi once stood.

* * *

 _A/N: As always, major thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._


	24. Chapter 24

_A/N; Warning...there will be a little time jumping in this chapter._

* * *

This was the proper place for a general.

James Ironwood stood upon the command podium of his command ship, reveling in the feeling of the ship's engines under his feet. Around him, the well-trained crew bent to their tasks, guiding and monitoring the ship as it flew low over the northern ocean. Around the bridge, screens were set to amplify the nighttime light, giving him a panoramic view of his fleet as it raced towards Anima's shores. Dim navigation and signal lights winked from each craft; there would be no radio or broadband transmissions to give away the fact that Atlas was on the move.

The general had been forced to understand the need to gather information before acting. He had failed Ozpin by not seeking to learn his enemy's plan before applying overwhelming force to the situation. He had failed the people of Vale and his fallen men by allowing automation to control his forces, giving his enemy a single point of weakness to exploit. Now, the need for contemplation and restraint was over! The enemy had exposed herself, attacking the City of Kuchinashi. With the rising sun, the forces of Atlas would descend upon the attacking White Fang like the hand of an angered deity.

Ahead, the lights of Soguk Su blinked as a hundred...a thousand...points of light against the black background. The navigator, working with only minimal input from the communications equipment in Weiss Schnee's dirigible, had guided them dead-on. They swept low over the town, whose residents were undoubtedly scrambling from their beds, wondering at the roar from above. Let them look and guess! Even if the enemy had spies below, with the CCT system down, no signal would reach the White Fang until after Atlas arrived!

Now the ships climbed into the air, rising to follow the trade route over the pass between the towns of Soguk Su and BatiKiyisi. The time for spies and secrets was past! The efforts that Major Schnee had put in were about to be rewarded! The enemy had come out of the shadows and would now feel the might of the most technologically advanced kingdom on Remnant!

Below, the occasional campfire or other light shown in the darkness. Traders, most likely, perhaps hunters or simple travelers. Who knew what brought folk out into the wilderness after dark? General Ironwood couldn't contain a slight smile, wondering about the tales this would inspire in pubs, bars and around other campfires for years to come; tales of looking up as the fleet that went on to secure the kingdoms' future thundered overhead!

Now they dropped again, after passing over the ridge that marked the center of the isthmus and following the trade route down the slopes. Ahead, BatiKiyisi's lights could be seen as a blurry glow when his communications officer reported.

"General, we're receiving a hail from Atlas Military Command! It is highly distorted due to the terrain features between us and the dirigible."

"Very well," General Ironwood offered a short nod. "We will climb to altitude and receive the message while the rest of the fleet maintains current course and speed. Communications, inform the fleet. Helm, make it so."

The increase in his weight, the slight tilt to the deck seemed like old friends. It had been too long since he had led his men to a decisive confrontation! Higher, the stars were more numerous, more clear. To the east, he could see the moon's reflection in the great lake.

"Receiving message," the communications officer reported, his voice calm and businesslike. Suddenly, he became more agitated. "General! It's a trap! According to the message, Roman Torchwick is preparing to detonate some sort of bomb in the city of Bati..."

General Ironwood's attention was diverted when the screens flashed first bright white, then went dark. In fact, the entire bridge went pitch black, followed shortly by the slightly nauseating feeling of free fall. As disciplined as they were, his bridge crew couldn't stifle a collective gasp of dismay.

"Flight controls are all out!" His helmsman announced.

"So are..." another crewman tried to report, but was interrupted when an unseen force hammered into the ship.

General Ironwood knew that the ship wasn't just falling, it had been knocked across the sky! Grabbing the railing around his podium, the general was horrified to note that his cybernetic limbs weren't working correctly. A few of the emergency lights came on, allowing him to see the bedlam as his crew struggled to keep at their stations.

"Emergency stabilizers are only partially on-line," his helmsman reported. "We're going down!"

"All hands brace for collision," General Ironwood ordered. His right hand barely grasped the rail as he noted the communications officer stabbing at his controls, struggling to get the message through the ship.

The tumbling settled somewhat, but everyone could tell that they were still plunging at a dangerous rate.

"Impact in seven seconds," the helmsman reported. "Six, five, four, three, two..."

General Ironwood saw the bridge's front bulkhead suddenly flying towards him...or was he flying towards it? Then the world went dark again.

* * *

In retrospect, Ron had probably been lulled into a sense of complacency after the social event. The rumor mill about the Schnees had settled down, Whitley had been trucked off to continue his apprenticeships and Einsam actually started to correspond with Jacques. The two had no intention of getting back together with each other, but her dinnertime conversations with her daughter made it clear that they were working out a somewhat amicable separation. Ron and Weiss continued to trade off being at the estate and attending classes and Kline actually let the young man work the kitchen every now and then.

Dr. Physiker continued to work with him every couple of days, and she was sure that she had managed to open a pinhole portal into his reality. After this, she started working on two items simultaneously; first to make a larger portal, one that could actually allow a person to pass and then to home on on Earth. By the end of the week, she claimed to have tuned in on his galaxy cluster and started calibrating the equipment again, seeking to home in on the Milky Way. For a week or so, life seemed to be looking up so much that he was sure things were going to work out without additional drama.

A young man who was once attacked by zombie snowmen should have known better.

It started with a routine review of what Pelz had brought back from General Ironwood's office. It always gave him a slight twinge of guilt when he perused the fruits of his spy network, but if the general really wanted to keep things secret, shouldn't he be putting in more effort? As soon as he saw that one of the messages came from Anima, he paid closer attention. Once he read the content, he sent a text to Weiss, telling her that there was something important to review that evening.

The two had a fairly long conversation that night, after reading that a valued agent, and they were pretty sure that it was Winter, reported that two 'persons of interest' had reached the City of Kuchinashi, that the White Fang had eliminated the bandits who had been using superior weaponry to raid the area, and that she expected an attack withing two days. Weiss and Ron checked and realized that the message had come in shortly after midnight, local time. Upon reading further, they discovered General Ironwood's order for his air fleet and air mobile infantry to go on highest alert. The two teens contacted Flynt and Neon, warning them to be ready to move...somewhere...at any moment. Weiss also confirmed that her personal airship was prepared for a long journey.

The next evening, they were already on edge when the rodent spy ring delivered the latest scroll. They read Winter's report of a large column of White Fang approaching the city. Weiss decided that it was a good time to invite their teammates over. The four teens were soon discussing what they could do. While they were most capable, they were only four and it looked like the upcoming clash could involve thousands on each side. What difference could they make?

"Maybe our best move is to chill close to home," Flynt suggested. "If the general takes most of the military and slides off to Mistral, Atlas may be vulnerable. If nothing else, we can keep our ears to the beat and move wherever trouble shows up."

The other three teens considered this a good idea and had just begun to discuss what sort of trouble might crop up, when they were interrupted by a call on Weiss' scroll.

"I just thought you might want to know," Kline's voice sounded over the device. "It appears that a large group of aircraft are flying overhead at this time."

The teens rushed to Weiss' balcony and looked up at the night sky, as ship after ship flew overhead."

"Those are military ships," Neon informed them. "I can see them in the dark."

"And they're all heading southeast," Ron added. "Towards Mistral."

Their meeting broke up shortly after this, although all four were understandably on edge. Filled with nervous energy, Weiss spent a couple more hours talking with Ron, even though it would mean less sleep and a rough day of training in the morning. Even when the two finally called it quits for the night, she tossed and turned long into the night, finally drifting off to an uneasy sleep.

Her scroll woke her in the pre-dawn darkness. Fumbling for the device, she noted that it still a few hours before dawn.

"Miss Schnee?" She recognized the sleepy and somewhat disheveled face of her head of technology. "I have to report that your communications dirigible has gone off line."

"What, it crashed?" She demanded. "Has anyone been hurt?"

"It hasn't crashed," he corrected her. "An hour or so ago, just after relaying an emergency transmission to the airfleet, the communications systems suddenly went off line. It has just landed and all other systems are working properly. We don't have the staff on hand at this time to install the backup equipment and get it into the air. I'm calling you to authorize..."

"Do it," she commanded him. "I'll gladly pay all overtime, just get that equipment back up and operating! When Beacon fell, Cinder Fall got out the last word, then shut down the CCT system. I won't let complete silence reign over Remnant if I can help it."

"Understood," he nodded. His expression showed that he expected her to authorize the expenditure.

"Mister Ingenieur," she said quickly, to prevent him from hanging up.

"Yes, Miss Schnee?"

"Can you decipher the emergency transmission?"

"That would be unethical," he told her. "The military has been trusting us to not decode their comm..."

"I'm not asking if you should," she informed him, coldly. "I'm asking if you can."

"Well...yes."

"Do so," she ordered. "We know that a large portion of the airfleet sortied last night. We know that our communications went off line shortly after someone here in Atlas tried to reach the fleet. I don't believe that this is a coincidence and the message might tell me what's going on."

"Miss Schnee, is this really your responsibility to..."

"I'm making it my responsibility," she informed him. "Decode the message and contact me immediately when you finish." She disconnected the call before he could argue more.

Her next call was to Ron.

"But I don't want a breakfast burrito before sunup," he complained in a groggy voice. "It's bad luck."

"Ron! Wake up!"

"Huh, whaa...Weiss, what's happening?"

She quickly explained the message she had just received.

"Get your rodent spy ring working and exchange the scroll now," she instructed him. "I'll pay the extra peanuts. Then meet me in the breakfast room. We need coffee and by then, my tech man should have the message decoded. Something big is happening and we have to be ready to move!"

Apparently, teenagers from Earth and rats from Atlas don't wake up very fast. By the time Ron joined Weiss in the breakfast room, she had a pot of coffee ready and the translated message in her hand. Her face was grim when she handed it to Ron.

"It was an emergency message," she told him. "There must have been some sort of a command breakdown because a warning came from what Winter referred to as 'Team Juvenile' that one of the bombs was in the town of BatiKiyisi, waiting for the airfleet to fly overhead. I did some research and if they aircraft we saw last night maintained a typical course and speed, they were...very close...to the town when we suddenly lost the communications equipment in the dirigible."

She shook her head, "but it can't be right! No bomb on the ground could knock out the entire airfleet in the air! No bomb that far away could take out communications equipment on my dirigible!"

"I don't know about the communications," Ron said, pouring himself a cup of coffee with a trembling hand. "But a nuke can take out an airfleet. There's something called an EMP...an electromagnetic pulse, that they create that can fry electronics. Even if the blast didn't destroy the airfleet, if the EMP took out their controls, navigation...other things. If the fleet was close, it could do it. I don't know how far away it can affect things."

"Ron, that could mean that the majority of the Atlas military has just been destroyed in one shot!" She gasped. "That's...unthinkable."

"That's Earth progress," he grumbled, bitterly. "We're very good at coming up with ways of killing each other."

"I think we'd better wait until we get some more information before we do anything," Weiss told him. "I'm ready to just jump in the airship and fly along their course...try to see what's become of BatiKiyisi...but we need to think before we act."

Ron grunted and started an early breakfast, as much to calm himself and give him something to do as to actually feed them. Weiss spent the time reviewing maps of Anima on her scroll, coming to the horrible conclusion that her kingdom's most powerful military asset had probably just been obliterated. They had just finished their meal when Unscharf showed up, dragging a scroll and chittering angrily. While Ron mollified the angry rodent with peanuts and some fresh pancake, Weiss reviewed the scroll recordings. What she found left her gasping in horror.

"They tried to warn us!" She showed Ron the transmissions displayed on General Ironwood's desk. "First they reported that Roman Torchwick was in the pass between Soguk Su and BatiKiyisi. They warned us that another of the bombs is on a ship, the Kaltes Schiff, heading here. Then they tried to warn us that Torchwick was going to set off one of the bombs when the fleet flew over BatiKiyisi! The only problem was that Ironwood was with the airfleet. When the message came in, nobody had the initiative to risk compromising an intelligence asset by using the communications I was providing! By the time the military officials found someone willing to take responsibility..."

"It was too late," Ron slumped, weakly to his chair. "All those people..."

"The fleet _and_ the townsfolk," Weiss sobbed. "If the fleet had changed course, the White Fang in the town wouldn't have set it off! This...Team Juvenile could have tried to seize the bomb or allowed someone to come in covertly!"

"So what do we do now?" Ron asked her.

"We have one of these bombs on a ship heading this way." Weiss told him. "We're going to track it down and destroy it before it gets here. Then we'll think of what to do next."

"If there is a next," Ron pointed out. "Wanna bet there's someone on board that's ready to set off the bomb if somebody boards the ship?"

"We need to plan," Weiss told him. "I'm calling Neon and Flynt."

"Can you use your manufacturing capability to make some lead-lined containers?" Ron asked her. "If nothing else, that stuff is radioactive and lead blocks it."

"What's lead?" Weiss asked him. "And what's radioactive?"

"Maybe I should call Dr. Physiker," Ron decided.

* * *

"So why did Dementor want this thing?" Kim asked. A Global Justice agent had just delivered what appeared to be a red stone carving of a human heart.

"It represents technology that the people on Remnant have mastered, that we have not," Drakken answered. While Kim watched, the (former?) mad scientist donned a pair of gloves and placed the object on a scanning table. He then led the redhead out of his laboratory and activated some controls, subjecting the thing to scans that Kim was sure she couldn't comprehend.

"So what's is supposed to do?" She asked.

"It is supposed to react with a person's soul," Drakken shrugged, observing the readings coming from the diagnostic equipment.

"Seriously?" Kim flinched, hoping that she didn't sound to much like his cousin. "It sounds like magic...some sort of hocus pocus nonsense."

"This coming from a young woman who was once turned to stone," Drakken offered her a short smirk. "From a young woman who watched her companion levitate an alien invasion fleet off of the ground and destroy it."

"Okay, you have a point," she shrugged.

"To be honest, I don't believe in magic," Drakken assured her, turning his gaze back to the readouts. "Didn't a science fiction author once state ' _Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic_ '?" (1)

"I'm not much into the genre," Kim shrugged.

"It actually makes sense to me," Drakken told her. "Our technology is based upon electrons running through conductors and semiconductors, chemical reactions and the atomic composition of materials. I have no doubt that some of what we can do will seem almost magical to them. On the other hand, if they've managed to quantify the soul...well, it will have a major impact on our understanding of science, religion, morality and health food marketing."

"So not wanting a lecture," Kim interrupted him. "Can you tell me how it benefits us to put in on one of the probes?"

"Of course," he assured her. "If Dementor can be trusted...and I'm not certain about that...it will determine if a soul that doesn't belong to the reality we access is present...within a few hundred kilometers."

"In other words, if by some miracle we access the right planet in the right reality, and Ron happens to be close to where he was when he arrived, we'll know it."

"Exactly," Drakken continued to study his readouts. "Since we have sufficient room in one of the probes to utilize this stone, I don't see any problem...assuming..."

"Assuming?" Kim prompted, when he appeared reluctant to continue.

"Assuming that the half-pint madman is being honest and this isn't just some elaborate effort to undermine this effort!" Drakken snarled. "That would be just like him, to sabotage my invention and ruin the incredible investment in time and resources! That's what I'm doing right now; I'm scanning this thing for any measurable electromagnetic emissions or reactions. If he's being honest with us, we stand to learn more from our upcoming experiment. If he's not, it could destroy months of work."

"Do you think he would lie, with Shego ready to...alter...him?"

"Not overtly," Drakken sighed. "But he could send us on a wild goose chase...have us pursuing what we think is the correct reality while we're really off in the boonies...so to speak."

"What would he gain by doing this?" She asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "And that's what bothers me."

Kim left Drakken to contemplate Dementor's relative level of trustworthiness and made her way into the actual equipment chamber itself. While they had executed several trials already, this close to the first full-blown attempt to access Remnant, the entire crew was present and the facility played host to intense, yet well organized, activity. Spotting her father talking with Motor Ed and Justine Flanner, Kim made her way to the odd trio.

"...I mean, seriously!" Ed was saying, seeming very happy to have his arms elbow-deep in an access hatch. "I've always been a gears touching gears sort of guy; a rubber on the road person, seriously. But this magnetic suspension, it could revolutionize large scale mechanical systems, seriously. I hate to admit it, but you could never do this with ball bearings or even air gust suspension."

"Well, Edward," James Possible gave the big man a fond pat on the shoulder. "We've just given you a new tool to work with."

"Yeah, but a seriously mongo advance!" Ed told him. The blonde man finished his latest effort and closed off the hatch.

"Just as long as it functions," Justine told the two. "The precision we need is on an order of magnitude never tried before. We're trying to use mechanical means to replicate an inter-dimensional, electromagnetic apparatus."

"Hey, no harshing on mechanicals," Ed protested. "Seriously! Oh! Hey Red!"

Justine and James turned and saw Kim as Ed performed some sort of diagnostic on the work he had just done.

"Hey, Kimmie-cub," James greeted his daughter. "Glad you could make it. We should be ready to initiate our first run in an other couple of hours. With any luck, we'll have Ronald back home in another week! What's the latest news?"

"The Lotus Blade made it's alterations...at the usual time...last night," Kim repeated what Yori had reported to her. "Over the last week, it transformed at an earlier time, as well. I wonder what that means?"

"No way to tell," James placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "But the important thing is that Ronald must be alive and well to be letting you know this. It will be good to have someone to watch Captain Constellation with again."

"Kim, don't tear my head off," Justine interrupted, gesturing around the vast chamber. "But is one man worth all of this?"

"The one man saved all of this," Kim pointed out, her tone cold. "You'd be a slave of the Lowardians if it wasn't for him, so yes."

"Hey, no need to get grouchy!" Ed interrupted. "Seriously! It was just a question. The brain here's been working as hard as anybody!"

"I appreciate it," Kim apologized to her old classmate. "I'm just tense."

"Well, we're about ready to rumble!" Ed pointed out. "All systems here are go! We seriously need to clear this chamber! Everyone else is rolling out."

Kim noted that the other occupants were making their way to the various exits, so the foursome joined in the exodus. Once clear of the chamber, Ed left for one of the recreational facilities that Drakken had constructed, while the remaining three made their way to the control center. There, they found Drakken, Dr. Porter as well as Shego and a cowed-looking Dementor. There were also a dozen technicians sitting at work stations.

"Portal chamber is clear," Dr. Porter reported. "All personnel present in the facility are accounted for."

"Very well, load the portal vehicle." Dementor ordered.

As much as Dr. Drakken was a traditionalist when it came to laying out his lairs, he also understood the need for safety. There was no glass window allowing those inside the control center to watch the action. Glass would have been a weak point; Drakken had installed video cameras in the chamber and large viewing screens around the control center. Kim observed one, which showed each layer of the gigantic, yet intricate mechanism align and open. A robot emerged from a storage chamber and rolled to the mechanism, where it loaded several pieces of equipment into the innermost compartment.

"Start air evacuation," Drakken ordered, as the inner sphere closed and the robot retreated out of the main chamber. Dr. Porter activated several controls.

"Ah, Kim Possible," Drakken noted his latest visitors. "As well as James and Miss Flanner. Very good of you to join us, although it will be a very long and hopefully boring event.

Kim nodded. She had been fully briefed on the twelve rotating spheres...along with the thirteenth to act as a transiting compartment. She had also been fully briefed on how long it would take to get each of the twelves spheres, in turn, rotating at the required speeds needed to pierce the ethereal veil between realities. She was, however, determined to remain here and see at least the first sphere brought up to speed.

"Dr. Porter," Drakken addressed the woman. "Why don't you retire for right now? We'll need one of us on duty at all times during this event. If you rest now, you'll be ready to take over for me later."

"A wise precaution," she nodded. "I'll be in my quarters."

"How about mien?" Dementor demanded. "I find no intellectual stimulation from standing next to a chamber that is being evacuated of air!"

"You'll go where you're told to go, or dragged to," Shego informed him.

"I hate to admit it, but the little fellow has a point," Drakken nodded. "You might as well take him to his cell. We'll need him when the actual operation starts."

While Shego didn't seem very happy about taking orders, being able to poke, prod and bully Dementor into motion must have made up for it. Kim was still angry beyond all measure at the maniacal professor. Whenever she looked at him, she had to restrain herself from pounding on him and her left ring finger itched when he was near. If not for him, that finger would be adorned at this moment...along with what that piece of jewelry implied.

"Dr. Drakken?" Kim asked. "When we are successful at finding the reality that Ron is in...as well as finding him, how do we get him back? Just getting the spheres to rotate properly can take days, and slowing them to a halt can take a...serious...amount of time. That transfer compartment seems roomy...but not roomy as in 'I can spend a couple of days in it' roomy."

"I have already made use of your mother in that regard," Drakken informed her. "She is working with a medical team to automate some sedation processes. By the time we find him, we should have both mechanisms and processes established so that he'll be able to enter the compartment, have the machines sedate him and remain unconscious for the transfer." Drakken looked a little uncomfortable. "It won't be exactly dignified, as he will need to connect himself to the machine to take care of hydration and...er...waste handling."

"It won't be dignified, but he'll be back." Kim said, firmly. She absently rubbed her left finger again. "By the way, what will it look like on the other side? I mean, when the compartment first shows up and then vanishes again?"

"Anyone observing will see a dark space appear in the air," he told her. "When the darkness clears, the compartment will be hovering where it was. I'm trying to select a point several feet above the ground and it will lower itself to once the transfer is complete. When we seek to recover the compartment, the darkness will appear again and the compartment will automatically align itself for the return journey. I want to test this several times before actually putting a person inside."

Kim nodded her approval and waited patiently while the main chamber was first purged of air and then slowly cycled with helium, so that what little gas remained in the chamber would be inert. Then, the innermost rotating sphere closed around the transfer compartment and began to rotate. The redhead somehow remained both interested and alert for the several hours it took to spin this sphere at the proper orientation and velocity. Once that was done, the next one closed and began to spin.

By this time, Kim was mostly dead on her feet. Her father guided her out of the control room and to a set of quarters set aside for the Possible Family. They weren't luxurious quarters, with only one, large bedroom containing five beds.

" _One for my parents_ ," she thought, as she lay down and her father spread a blanket over her. " _One for my folks, one for each of the tweebs and one for Ron, when we get him back_." She smiled a little, thinking that when they recovered him, she was going to insist on sharing a bed with him. She wasn't about to...do anything...with him in this shared setting, but she had been away from him for long enough.

When she awoke, she looked at her watch and realized that she had managed to sleep for almost ten hours. Apparently, knowing that progress was being made was enough to counter her sleeping problems. Her father was already out of the room, so she found a change of clothing and made use of the small shower adjacent to the bedroom. Feeling much more herself, she stopped by the control room, where Dr. Porter was now running the operation. The robotics expert informed her that they had started five more spheres rotating, so they were only halfway there. Somewhat disappointed, Kim found her way to the dining facility and surprised herself by having a solid appetite. Realizing that moping about wasn't helping anything, she left the complex and went home, making use of the alterations that the tweebs and Wade had made to the den to keep caught up, via cyberspace, with her classes. Finally, the hour of decision was getting closer, so she returned to the complex.

This time, her father, Drakken, Justine and Dr. Porter were all there.

"We're on the last sphere," her father told her. Looking at the screen, she confirmed that the largest sphere was now closed and rotating rapidly.

"Proper velocity now achieved," a technician called from a work station.

"Call them off!" Drakken ordered.

"One optimal!"

"Two optimal!"

"Three optimal!"

Kim listened, holding her breath as twelve technicians each reported that one of the rotating spheres was rotating at the proper velocity and orientation. Upon the twelfth report, Drakken looked at Dementor, who nodded.

"Introduce the photons!" Drakken ordered.

"Activating photon sources!" Another technician reported.

"Activating transfer chamber automated timer!" Another chimed in.

"One functional!"

"Two functional!"

Again, Kim waited as the technicians reported that each sphere's fiber-optic cables were 'conducting' light.

"Transfer chamber thrusters activated," another reported. "And we have lost contact with it. Spheres show no indication of a collision."

"Like it's supposed to be," Drakken nodded, although his smile was somewhat nervous. He glued his eyes to the instrument panel in front of him for several minutes.

"Travel time and safety allowance elapsed," a technician reported. "The chamber should be well clear of the spatial distortion."

"Cut the photons and start the halt procedure," Drakken ordered.

It didn't take as long to halt the spheres as it took to get them moving. The need for precision wasn't as great, so all could be slowed simultaneously. It took a little over an hour, but the spheres were all brought to a halt. Slowly, the outermost aligned itself with a camera and opened, exposing the next. This sphere then did the same, exposing the third. Eventually, the twelfth sphere opened to an empty space.

"No sign of debris," Drakken crowed. "Ladies, gentlemen, we have successfully pushed the chamber into an alternate reality. Robotics crews, you have two hours to perform maintenance on the mechanism. After that we energize all over again."

"Miss Possible," Drakken turned to Kim and her father. "We have just managed to insert the chamber into an alternate reality. In roughly sixteen hours, we will attempt to recover it and if this is successful, we will see if we have made contact with the reality we were aiming for."

"Why not pressurize the cavern?" Kim asked.

"Time," Drakken shrugged. "While we can re-pressurize it in a matter of minutes, you saw that it can take hours to evacuate the air. We have tested our ability to perform maintenance and inspections with the robots. This is the most efficient way. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Without waiting for an answer, Drakken joined Dr. Porter at a work station and was soon in a discussion with her, while the screen showed a small pack of robots emerge from a storage bay and converge on the huge machine. Closer by, Dementor started to review readouts at another work station, under Justine and Shego's careful eyes.

"I should really check on the rocket engines in the basement," James told his daughter. "While Ed's a good mechanic, his enthusiasm can be a little bit of a liability at times."

Despite being surrounded by people, Kim found herself alone, once again. She sighed, but then had an idea. A little work at an unoccupied workstation told her that Monique was in town and not doing a whole lot at the moment. Smiling, the redhead excused herself from the control center, from the complex to meet up with her old friend.

* * *

It was surprising how fast a small group of determined people can prepare, and then how long it can take for time to go by. Ron also learned something frightening about Weiss Schnee; when she was determined to get something done, it was _not_ a good idea to be a delaying factor. Her scroll conversation with Flynt and Neon wasn't polite, but a certain crudeness was probably necessary to get the two moving at this early hour. Neither of them were any more fond of sudden wake-ups as Ron was. After that, her call to her airship's stand-by crew wasn't exactly social. She needed to move and she needed to move now. Finally, she was considerably less than patient as Ron struggled to explain the situation...or what they suspected the situation to be...to Dr. Physiker.

"Are you ready to move now?" Weiss' voice was icy when Ron terminated his conversation.

"Yeah, but I thought we were going to plan."

"Here's the plan," She told him. "The two of us get our field gear and get aboard my airship. We go out and try to spot the ship. We determine the best time to seize the ship, then come back, grab Neon, Flynt and the doctor, then we go back, seize the ship and disarm the bomb."

"That's a little on the sketchy side," Ron complained. "And if it's far enough away from other ships or anything else, why not just sink the ship?"

"I already thought about that," she informed him. "If they detonate the bomb, we've just killed the ship's crew. Even if they don't detonate the bomb, it will be on the bottom of the ocean. Can you tell me, without any doubt, that it _**won't**_ go off sometime in the future?"

"No," he admitted, then sprinted off to his rooms. Minutes later, he was on the estate's front lawn with Weiss and minutes after that, the airship swooped in and they were airborne.

"We're going to fly a zigzag pattern along the most direct route between Soguk Su and the port of Mantle!" Weiss shouted over the engines' whine. "I have some precision optics on board, so with the sun coming up, we should be able to read any ship's name from a long way away. If there are any White Fang aboard, they won't want to waste the bomb, so they won't detonate it because an aircraft flies by, several kilometers away!"

"Are you sure about that?" Ron demanded.

"No! But I couldn't come up with anything better!"

"Neither can I!" He admitted. "What happens when we find it?"

"We get to practice our landing strategies!" She shouted back, then turned to stare at the passing ocean.

Ron didn't like the implications from that statement, but settled in to help scan the sea. In four hours, they spotted three ships. In all three cases, Weiss carefully focused an optic device and determined that the ship in question was not the Kaltes Schiff. After the third disappointment, she received a call Flynt, informing her, unnecessarily, that her dirigible communicator was on line again. Her teammate also explained that Neon and Dr. Physiker were waiting at the Schnee mansion for them. She took a few minutes to discuss some preliminary planning when Ron interrupted.

"Ship in view!" He shouted. Then, despite the tension, he grinned. "Man, that sounds like a real sailor!"

"Never mind," Weiss snapped at him. Again, she focused her optical device. "That's it! That's the Kaltes Schiff! Pilot, note that ship's course and speed. Maintain our current course and speed until we're out of sight of them. After that, we head back to Atlas!"

* * *

"So, I know you've put together some sort of secret organization to get Ron back," Monique mentioned. "Can you tell me what you've accomplished...or even if you've managed anything?"

"We've made progress," Kim smiled. "But we don't know if we're on the right track yet. Still, with what we've managed, once we get on the right track, we'll be able to get him."

Monique reached across the table to pat Kim's hand. "That's good," she said. "The way you've set so much of your schoolwork aside, devoted so much to getting him back. Well, it's going to be good to see the two of you together again."

"He..." Kim stammered a bit, about to admit something that only the parents and Wade knew up until now. "He bought the ring before our last mission." Kim half flinched and half laughed at her friend's reaction. "He didn't have a chance to give it to me. I hope he still has it."

"I take it you were going to say yes?" Monique asked.

Kim simply gave her a level look.

"Okay, dumb question," Monique waved it off. "But, you have to admit that you've put in an awful lot of effort and pretty much put your life on hold. I hope this works out for you."

"Me too," Kim admitted. "But what's happening in your life?"

For a few minutes, Kim enjoyed listening to Monique describe her life of studying both fashion design and business. The girl also told Kim that she had been recording every Pain King vs Steel Toe match, faithfully, since Ron had vanished.

"That boy's gonna get an earful from me when he gets back," she declared. "We're gonna dissect and criticize every move those two made while he's been gone. He's going to finally have to admit that I'm right about this stuff...that the guy he's following is second class...that..."

Kim set her coffee down and grabbed her friend's hand.

"You just get him back here!" Monique finally managed to tell her. "You get him back, marry him and have a half-dozen kids! The two of you worked so long and hard at this that it just has to work out for you! If the two of you can't make it work, what hope is there for any of us?"

Upset, touched, embarrassed and charmed all at the same time, Kim spent the next half-hour comforting her friend. Finally, Monique was composed enough for the two to do some power shopping and take in a movie. Afterwards, the two said their farewells and Kim returned to her parents house, hoping that the familiar surroundings would help her sleep. Maybe they did, but she still didn't sleep well. She awoke with several hours to go before the recovery procedure would be finished.

Kim tried to waste time. She took a very leisurely shower and had a very relaxed breakfast. She did her best to get interested in a television show...to no avail. She tried some more on-line coursework but couldn't seem to focus. Finally realizing that she just wasn't going to be able to concentrate with the recovery hovering over her head, she climbed into the sloth and drove back up the mountain.

There were four hours to go by the time she reached the control room. Her father, Drakken, Justine and Dr. Porter seemed to be running things. Dementor was present, with Shego keeping a close eye on him. Rufus was perched on Justine's shoulder and quickly scampered over to her. Kim smiled as the little guy scrambled up her clothing to take a spot similar to the one he just vacated.

"Current status?" Drakken requested.

"Ninth sphere at optimal rotation," Justine reported. "Energizing sphere number ten."

There was silence for a minute, before Shego smacked Dementor on the head.

"All alignments are appearing to be correct," the undersized man added, rubbing his head and glaring at his assailant.

Kim found a quiet corner and just watched, trying to keep up her interest, while the additional spheres were, one at a time, brought up to the hyper-speeds needed to pierce realities. While she found the process somehow tense and boring at the same time, she knew that if she left, what was happening here would dominate her thoughts, leaving her unable to concentrate on any other task. Finally...

"All sphere's at optimal velocity and orientation," Justine reported.

"Introduce the photons," Drakken instructed.

"Starting," Dr. Porter reported.

"Sphere one, active..."

"Sphere two, active..."

Again, the count up seemed to take just a little longer than forever.

"All spheres energized," Vivian announced.

"We have indications of an open portal," Justine added.

"Confirmed," Dementor chimed in, holding a hand in a blocking position next to his head.

"Start the timer," Drakken ordered.

"All spheres are maintaining nominal function," Vivian reported.

Drakken wasn't paying attention. His eyes were fixed on a clock above one of the screens. Kim also watched as it counted down from ten minutes.

"Automatic photon shut down has been activated," Vivian informed the room, moments after the timer reached zero. "Standard deceleration has been activated. All spheres continue to maintain nominal function."

"The portal has closed," Justine reported, seconds later.

"Confirmed," Dementor announced. "There is no longer a gap between realities.

Again, it was a waiting game. Kim understood that it would take roughly an hour to slow all of the spheres to a halt, but that didn't make the time pass any faster.

"I can pick up readings from the transfer chamber," Vivian suddenly announced. "I can't get the specific data from the equipment we sent through, but we've recovered them all." Her eyes went wide as she realized what she had just reported. "We've sent probes into another reality and have recovered them!"

Drakken and Justine both performed fist-pumps, followed by a round of high-fives through the control room.

"Remain calm!" Kim's father suddenly shouted to the celebrating scientists and technicians. "We still have multiple tons of matter rotating at potentially apocalyptic velocities. There will be time enough to celebrate once we've completed the mission!"

The staff went back to their workstations, but the mood had become much more upbeat. Kim couldn't help but join in with the enthusiasm, even though she knew that Ron wasn't about to emerge from the contraption. They could be several months away from recovering him.

But they were moving in the right direction!

As the spheres continued to slow, Wade appeared on a smaller screen.

"Kim, Yori wishes to speak to you," he reported.

"Patch her through," Kim instructed.

"She requested a private conversation," Wade informed his friend. "With the heavy shielding Dr. Drakken has installed and projected on the facility, she can't get in on the Kimmunicator."

"Take the elevator to the observation deck," Drakken told her. "You'll be able to access your usual communications channels from there."

The (former?) mad scientist, as well as the rest of the control room staff, seemed completely focused upon the readouts and thus did not notice the redhead leaving. Shaking her head, half in annoyance and half in admiration of the single-minded determination on display, Kim found the elevator at took the long ride up. She had never been here before and was forced to admit that Drakken had a certain style when it came to establishing his lairs. The observation deck appeared to be a large, comfortable room, much as one would find in a university student union building. While the room was built into the mountain, one wall was exposed and consisted of large windows, allowing a breathtaking view of the mountainside and, at this evening hour, the twinkling lights of Middleton in the distance. Taking a seat on a comfortable couch, Kim pressed the Kimmunicator button, trusting Wade to patch her through to Yori.

"Kim Possible," the Asian girl must have been seated in front of a computer, as the background looked like a well-decorated classroom. "It troubles me to present you with dire news at this time."

"What news is that," Kim took a breath, wondering what could be happening.

"The Lotus Blade has vanished."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Weiss' plan had a lot of holes in it, but Ron couldn't come up with a better one, given the time available and the current situation. The Atlesian Military was in turmoil. The colonel now in charge seemed to be a good man; but he was overwhelmed at being suddenly thrust into the leadership position with the greater part of his mobile forces lost...or at least probably so. His mental state wasn't exactly calmed by learning that Weiss Schnee had some method of spying on the...maybe former...commander. However, he was Atlesian to the core and upon learning that another of these bombs was en-route to the kingdom, ordered one of his few remaining airships to destroy the ship.

Until Weiss offered him an alternative.

"We have one shot," she told Ron, the rest of her team and Dr. Physiker as their airship lifted from the Schnee Mansion and set course to the southeast, into the darkening sky. "If we don't report that the bomb is in our hands by sunup tomorrow, that ship will be sunk.

"How did you convince the colonel to let us try to grab it?" Ron asked.

"I pointed out that with worldwide communications still inhibited, whomever is behind all of this has to have agents in Atlas, waiting for the ship." She took a deep breath. "If we can disarm the bomb, we can observe the Mantle Docks, question any White Fang with the weapon, and maybe uncover the organization working in this kingdom. It will also give us a chance to track down the last bomb, without the other side knowing that we're on to them."

"You thought all of this up already?" Ron was impressed. "That's some fast work!"

"It's my job," she shrugged. "As head of the Schnee Dust Company, I have to make fast and logical decisions."

"Speaking of head of the company," Ron pointed out. "What happens if something goes wrong and none of us come back?"

"Then my mother had better do a very good job raising Whitley," Weiss snapped at him. "No innocent crewman on that ship is going to die because the Schnee heiress is a coward!"

Ron held his tongue. Although he hadn't overheard the conversation, he had seen tears flowing from both Einsam and Weiss' eyes, had seen a desperate embrace as the Schnee matron sent her heiress off into danger. The blonde boy shook the image out of his head; Weiss would not appreciate sympathy. Instead, he listened as she went over the planned attack, yet again. It was a desperate plan that was putting the five of them, plus the airship's crew, in incredible danger. Yet, if it worked, it could save not only the lives of the ship's crew, but might give them a lead to track down the last bomb.

Ron noted that time passed the same on Remnant as it did on Earth when he was getting ready to do something foolish and dangerous; it took forever, then passed in an instant. He swore that the first three hours of their flight took roughly four days to pass. Then, the last half-hour took thirty seconds.

"Ship ahead," the pilot called back to the passengers. "It's the Kaltes Schiff. There appear to be no personnel on the deck at this time."

"Acknowledged!" Weiss shared a quick nod with Ron. "Execute the mission."

Ron sighed at the part he was going to have to play. All student hunters developed a landing strategy early in their training, usually something that complimented either their semblance or their choice in weapons. Weiss used her glyphs...which glowed brightly. Neon used her speed, which left a bright, rainbow trail behind her. Flynt used his sound waves, which could rattle a concrete wall. Ron used the wind gusts generated by his tonfa; the only strategy among the four that didn't produce a great deal of light or noise.

As the airship passed over the ship below, Weiss wrapped her arms around his waist and he jumped into the air. It took every bit of self control to not scream in terror...like he had so many times while parachuting with KP. He spun his tonfa, generating wind and both slowing and steering their decent. He wasn't used to supporting two people, so the landing wasn't going to be gentle, but the landing should be controlled enough for their aura to prevent injury.

Should.

Again, time passed slowly while his arms burned with the strain, but suddenly flew by. The ship that had been so very far below just a second ago was now directly under them. Weiss let go to drop the last few feet and Ron was too busy trying to get his flight, affected by the loss of her weight, under control to see how she landed. By the time he got himself onto the rear deck, requiring a tuck and roll, she was already on her feet. The two didn't exchange words, but moved quickly and quietly towards the ship's bridge.

Upon reaching the hatch, Weiss took up a position nearby while Ron summoned the Mystical Monkey Power. If the hatch was somehow locked from the inside, he would break through and if it made enough noise...things were going to get very dicey. The hatch wasn't locked. Weiss sprang through and Ron was right on her heels. He had a quick glimpse of a middle-aged man at the wheel with a young woman to his side, both people staring wide-eyed at the intruders. The woman had a pistol but before she could fire, Weiss slashed at her wrist. The firearm fell to the deck and Ron pulled a wad of cloth from his pocket...the team had been prepared...and stuffed it into the woman's mouth. He noted that she had golden eyes.

"She's a faunas," he reported to Weiss, tackling the struggling woman to the deck. She was stronger than her small stature would suggest, but couldn't overcome the Mystical Monkey Power. Ron took a cut across his stomach, which his aura absorbed, before managing to secure the gag with some tape. He then flipped her onto her stomach and secured her wrists behind her back with Remnant's version of tie-wraps.

"Are the two of you crewmen?" Weiss asked the man at the wheel, her rapier at his throat.

"I am, she isn't," Ron heard him whisper. "They took the crew hostage yesterday!"

"Where are the rest of the crew and passengers?" She asked, while Ron secured the faunas' ankles. He began to frisk her for weapons and other possessions, a process that left him blushing. Dire situation or not, enemy or not, she was a shapely young woman.

"They're holding the entire crew in the crewmen's berth," he answered. "There's always one of them on guard. I guess they've taken the captain's quarters as their own."

By now, Ron had managed managed to liberate a scroll and a clip of ammunition from his captive. He noted that she had close cropped dark hair, with a white stripe down the center of her head and over each ear. For a moment, he struggled to match the color pattern with an animal but decided that it wasn't important.

"Okay, how many are there?" Weiss asked the crewman.

"Six," he answered.

"Have they posted guards on the crew?" Weiss pressed.

"Yeah, one was outside the berth when they brought me up here."

"Can the guard see the rear deck?" Weiss' expression was intense.

"You mean the aft deck, and no."

"Rear...er aft deck is open," she whispered into her scroll.

"Moving," Neon's voice sounded through the device.

"Okay, we're a hunter team, working for Atlas," Weiss explained to the man at the wheel. "We're going to rescue your crew but we need your help. You're carrying a bomb that we need to get to without giving them a chance to detonate it. Once we release the crew, we're going to need you to show us where..."

Ron slipped out of the bridge and to the aft of the ship, where he could see a sparkling rainbow appear in the night sky. It twirled, forming into a disc that descended towards the ship. Moments later, he was able to spot Neon, supporting Flynt much like he had supported Weiss. The two weren't the picture of grace when the landed, but it wasn't noisy and the two were ready for action when he led them to the bridge.

"Flynt, stay here and guard the prisoner," Weiss told her teammate. "The ship is on autopilot, so we will be good for a short time. This crewman will lead us to where a White Fang member is guarding the crew. We're going to release them, then they'll show us where the last four White Fang are staying and where the bomb is at."

There were terse nods all around. The crewman led the three hunters through the companionways, deeper into the ship's superstructure, to the top of a stairway.

"The berth is at the bottom of this stair," he whispered to his rescuers. "About twenty feet down the companionway."

Again, the hunters exchanged a terse nod, they knew that speed would be vital. Weiss placed a couple of glyphs which launched first Neon, then Ron, then herself. Neon was the fastest of the three. The White Fang on Guard, some kind of tiger faunas judging by his coloring, barely had time to look towards danger when Neon zipped by him, lashing out with her nunchucks. His aura protected him from the impact but couldn't protect him from the ice that formed around his head, preventing an outcry.

Ron showed up next, driving a knee into the man's stomach and grabbing his arms. Again, the faunas' aura protected him from damage but couldn't protect him from being winded and stunned. Weiss was next, shattering the ice around the man's head with a quick slash of her rapier, then stuffing a gag into his mouth. Ron had a moment of fear; if the man had a tiger's fangs, this could be a dangerous operation. He didn't need to worry. Weiss had the gag secured with tape before the man could even begin to resist. By then, Neon was back.

The tiger-man was now able to resist to a certain extent, and making Ron appreciate the kind of strength that a faunas could have. Even with Mystical Monkey Power, Ron had his hands full keeping him contained while Neon secured first his ankles, then his wrists, with tie-wraps. After this, the slender girl frisked the man, removing first a short-bladed sword and then a scroll from his clothing. While Ron and Neon struggled with the guard, Weiss released the crew and then had a whispered conversation with the ship's captain.

"Neon, a crewman will show us to the captain's quarters, where the rest of the White Fang are staying," Weiss whispered to the faunas girl. "We'll stand guard outside. We're going to try to finish this without even waking them up, but if they come out, we're going to have to deal with them."

"Ron," she continued. "The rest of the crew will go to the bridge. Go with them and carry the guard up there. Flynt will keep watch on the two prisoners. After that, the captain will take you first to the aft deck, where we can unload Dr. Physiker. He will then take you to the hold, where the bomb is stored. You and the doctor will disarm it."

Ron offered a nervous nod, picked up the prisoner and followed the crewmen while Weiss murmured into her scroll. The young man soon realized that Flynt was probably going to be protecting the prisoners from the crew as much as making sure they didn't escape. The crew was in a sour mood, grumbling among themselves and glaring at the angry faunas draped across Ron's shoulders.

Still, the crewmen were very accommodating towards their rescuers. They quickly ushered Ron onto the bridge and although they grumbled some more when he set the prisoner down, rather than dropping him, they made room. While Ron left with the captain, the cook asked to leave for the galley, saying something about everyone needing some coffee to see them through. Ron was quickly on the aft deck again, listening with a certain dread as the airship drew closer. Dr. Physiker tossed him a large tool bag, then struggled off of the airship with the captain's help. Once the aircraft, and its engine noise, had slipped off into the night, Ron called Weiss.

"No sign of activity from the captain's quarters," she whispered to him. "Get the bomb deactivated."

"Right," he breathed back, then nodded for the captain to lead them to the hold. He picked up the tool bag for the doctor and followed the man through a hatch and down a long set of stairs, leading to the front...to the fore...of the ship.

"I can't say for sure that it's a bomb," the middle-aged man told his two guests. "Only that we loaded a metal crate for them that was almost four meters long and weighed over three thousand kilograms. They seized the ship a day out of port and won't let anyone down here, even with one of them along, to do our inspections."

"If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck," the doctor pointed out.

The captain smiled at her as he opened a hatch and stepped into the forward hold, which was already lit. Frowning, he took a few steps into the compartment before freezing, seeing another man standing by the crate in question. The two gawked at each other for a moment before the other man, who Ron could see was some sort of a lizard faunas, reached for his pocket.

Ron's reflexes had been honed by both training and sidekick work. He dropped the tools and rushed the faunas, pulling his tonfa while he rushed by the captain. The guard, or so Ron decided to consider him, dropped his scroll when Ron struck his wrist. In one smooth motion, he drew a sai and stabbed, forcing Ron to parry. By the time Ron was ready to attack again, the guard had pulled a second sai. Then the fight was on.

It started with a fast exchange of strikes and blocks, with neither combatant getting in a strike. On the next round, Ron added a quick snap kick that sent the man stumbling backwards. Before he regained his balance, Ron ducked low and landed a solid strike on his knee. His aura held, but he felt the strike, prompting a powerful thrust with his right hand weapon. Ron sidestepped slightly and caught the hand between his left arm and chest. His right tonfa held off the other man's left sai, allowing him to knee his opponent first in the groin, then in the stomach, then on the chin. The faunas dropped to the deck, writhing.

"Doctor, the bomb!" Ron hissed, while he immobilized the guard. Shaken out of a stunned stupor, the physicist recovered her tools and hurried to the metal crate. The captain assisted Ron.

Soon, the guard was gagged and restrained. With the panic out of the way, Ron pulled out his scroll and reported his status to the others.

"Stay with the captain and the doctor," Weiss instructed him. "We couldn't hear your fight here, so I'm sure nobody in the captain's quarters did. Let's keep this quiet."

The report caught Flynt, and the rest of the crew, by surprise. Still, things were under control. He reported that nobody on the bridge heard the fight, so the remaining hijackers must be blissfully ignorant. Unfortunately for him, the crowded bridge didn't allow him to keep an extremely close look on the two prisoners. When the cook returned to the bridge, with a pot of coffee and several cups, the resulting jostling for the beveredge gave them the distraction that they needed.

The two faunas were suddenly on their feet, their restraints cut. The tiger faunas dove towards the control console, clearing a path for his companion. The smaller faunas didn't bother trying to fight or scream for help, she simply lunged forward, even as Flynt brought his trumpet to his lips, and slammed her hand down on one button. A sound wave sent her sprawling against the bulkhead, but the damage had been done.

The ship's foghorn blared a deafening roar.

Down in the forward hold, three humans and a restrained faunas jumped.

On the bridge, crewmen piled on top of the two prisoners.

Outside the captain's quarters, Neon and Weiss nearly jumped out of their skin, before sharing a horrified look. From the other side of the door, they heard the unmistakable curses and stumbling of people waking in an unfamiliar room.

"We've got activity!" Weiss snapped, then shoved her scroll back into her pocket.

The door flew open and several confused faunas stormed into the passageway. Weiss put a sheet of ice on the deck and slid along it, slashing and tripping the first man through the door. Neon banked and skated along the bulkhead, striking the next man through the door and encasing one of his arms in ice. The last faunas, however, retreated back into the compartment and secured the door behind her. Weiss tried to open it, but it was locked.

"One of them is free and awake!" The heiress snapped into her scroll. "Disable the bomb, now!"

"I don't even have the casing open yet!" The doctor protested.

"If they can't get down here, what's the danger?" The captain asked.

"They might have a remote detonator, using a scroll!" Physiker snapped, working furiously with a wrench.

The solution clear to him, Ron knew what he had to do. He dropped his tonfa and held out his hand, concentrating. Suddenly, he held a blue, glowing wakizashi. Nudging the doctor out of the way, he slashed along one edge of the crate's top, then down two sides. Enhanced by Mystical Monkey Power, he pulled the crate apart.

* * *

Weiss was desperate. She twirled Myrtenaster's chamber, loading fire dust, and unleashed a gout of flame at the door's latch. Gritting her teeth against the pain to come, she summoned more glyphs and sent herself ricocheting back and forth between the heated door and the opposite bulkhead, hammering the door with each impact. Her aura depleted, but she made progress.

* * *

With the crate yawning open, Ron saw that it contained the bomb. While he was no expert in nuclear weapons, he had seen a fair amount of weaponry during his years of sidekick work. Dementor had gotten his hands on a proper bomb, not just the nuclear component, and had traded it across the realities. Guessing that the nuclear component would be somewhere in the center, he made two arching slashes and pulled the bomb apart. The jagged metal cut at his hands, but it was better than the alternative.

* * *

The last of her aura fizzled out, but Weiss managed to force the door. The heiress fell, exhausted, to the deck but Neon was quick to vault over her and into the compartment. The last of the faunas was a young woman, punching desperately at a scroll. Seeing the oncoming cat faunas, she opened her mouth and emitted a shriek that had Weiss clutching at her ears. Neon, having enhanced hearing, dropped to the deck in agony.

* * *

Ron was startled to see that the inside of the bomb consisted mostly of empty space, with an oblong, lumpy, metal object suspended in a latticework of additional metal. Several cables led from this object to the bomb's housing. At Dr. Physiker's urging, Ron cut the wires, hacked the object free of the latticework, and dragged it out of the housing.

* * *

With the last of her strength, Weiss threw Myrtenaster with enough force and accuracy to knock the scroll out of her opponent's hand and under a bunk. The woman hissed and clicked, bringing the image of an angry bat to the heiress' mind. The faunas dropped to the deck and fumbled for the device, not noticing Neon staggering to her feet.

* * *

Following the doctor's instructions, Ron sliced into the metal object, revealing what appeared to be Styrofoam. Digging through this, he found a sphere at one end, with several wires connecting it to the aluminum skin. He cut the wires and pulled the sphere free. Again following the doctor's instructions, he made a shallow cut into the sphere, exposing what he assumed to be plastic explosives. Working quickly, he scrapped these explosives from an inner, metal sphere.

* * *

The faunas hauled the scroll out from under the bunk, just in time to catch Neon's chucks to the side of her head. The White Fang was staggered, but managed to poke a finger, with a triumphant howl, at the screen. Another strike dropped her, senseless, to the ground.

* * *

Pulling the inner sphere free of the explosives, Ron heard a snapping sound from the bomb's frame. Glancing that way, doctor, captain and student huntsman saw several of the wires that had been previously cut arc with an electrical discharge. As they were well away from the bomb components. They had no effect.

"It's done," the doctor assured Ron. "I will disassemble the rest of the device with a great deal more...care and precision. You've done well."

Ron nodded, but could only stare with sorrow at the Lotus Blade, realizing that he had lost his last link to home.

* * *

(1) Attributed to Arthur C Clarke.

 _A/N: As always, thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	25. Chapter 25

_A/N: Again, I have slipped back a little in time, in order to see what's been happening with other characters._

* * *

Kim returned to the control center, her emotions in turmoil. According to Yori, Ron was the only one who could summon the Lotus Blade, so unless someone had sneaked in to Yamanouchi and stolen the relic...a ferociously unlikely possibility...Ron had called it to him. Since he had spent months making it alter its form without actually summoning it, she could only conclude that he desperately needed the blade.

Doing the math in her head, she didn't like and of the conclusions to she reached as to why he would desperately need the blade.

Unfortunately for her, her father wasn't in the control center. Neither were the old friends and enemies from her high school days. One of the technicians directed her to the elevator, which she took to a room off to the side of the main equipment chamber. This room was lined with various diagnostic equipment. Here, she found her father, as well as Drakken, Shego, Dementor, Justine, Dr. Porter and Rufus. She patted her shoulder, summoning Rufus to her while she approached her father. Steering the rocket scientist away from the rest of the milling bunch, she told him about the Lotus Blade.

"Only Ron," Rufus confirmed.

"So, he needed the blade," James Possible confirmed.

"It means he's in trouble!" Kim wailed. "He needs help!"

"But getting excited won't do any good," James told her. The rocked scientist took a deep breath. "The best we can do for him is to determine if we sent the probes to the correct place in the space/time/reality continuum. I know that it might not seem that we're acting with the urgency you need us to, but there's no way to speed this up."

Kim just ground her teeth in frustration until her father enfolded her in a massive hug.

"All spheres have halted," Dr. Porter's voice sounded. "Opening at this time."

Several technicians now showed up and went to the numerous work stations around the room. The level of excitement was incredible.

"Main equipment chamber is pressurizing at the standard rate," Vivian reported. "All probes have entered the pressure lock."

The assembled scientists stared at a bay door, which Kim's sense of direction told her was in the direction of the main equipment chamber.

"Pressure lock now pressurized," Vivian declared.

They bay door, which was the center of so much attention, openned and several of the probes they had previously sent across realities floated into the room, each landing on a diagnostic table. The assorted technicians and scientists looked like kids on Christmas Morning, almost fighting each other to view the various readings. It only took minutes, but an almost palpable wave of disappointment flowed throught the room.

"We didn't get the right reality," Drakken declared. "The atmosphere and background radiation found on the planet we accessed are hostile to human life."

Shego lit up a hand, prompting Dementor to cringe and cower. Drakken called off his long time assistant.

"This might...might...be an honest mistake," he informed her. "Take the little snake back to his cell and leave him there. We still have to sort through the data and learn what we can."

While the technical staff complied, still interested in the data despite the disappointement, Kim noted Dementor casting a furtive glance at a probe that nobody was utilizing. Following his gaze, she realized that this was the probe that the stone heart was in.

So why was it glowing with an evil, red hue?

* * *

 _While the hard work, tedium, constant training and denial of an individual identity are bad enough, the most unpleasant aspect of being a soldier is the hours._

Winter Schnee couldn't shake these words of wisdom, which she had first overheard before springing a surprise inspection back in Atlas, from her mind. At the time, nearly three years ago, she was a young lieutenant, fresh from the academy, instilling discipline in the soldiers under her command. Now she was far from home, in Kuchinashi, awaiting an attack that she wanted to avoid but hoped would come. She hadn't had enough time to drill the two teams under her command into a proper, unified squad. She hadn't had enough time to train them with the soldiers they would support. Instead of despairing, she consoled herself with another gulp of strong coffee and another piece of soldierly wisdom, imparted by a hard-bitten NCO.

 _Battles are not won by the most competent force, they're won by the least incompetent force._

A whisper of sound brought her out of her reverie. Looking up, she saw that Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen were approaching her lookout point on Kuchinashi's wall. The two showed their years of hunting life in dozens of small ways. Right now, they walked at a very casual pace, conserving their energy, marshaling what they hadn't burned off already for the confrontation they knew was coming on. Yet, they moved almost silently, even though no foes would hear them from the top of the wall.

"How are your teams?" Winter asked. She maintained her tireless scan of the countryside beyond the city, beyond the kingdom, despite her lack of sleep.

"Bedded down, catching some rest," Taiyang shrugged. At Winter's arch look, he continued. "They're all teens, and need rest more than us. Besides, one last training session, now, won't do anything other than wear them out. They have a little while to get ready." He nodded meaningfully at the westering sun as he said the last.

"And if the White Fang attack before the sun goes down?" Winter fixed him with a stern gaze.

"They won't and we both know it," Tai countered her. "They're all faunas and will want to use their night vision advantage."

"What if they catch us by surprise, do the unexpected?" She pressed.

"Then the plan you and the colonel came up with will still work," Raven shrugged. "The soldiers on the outer defenses will hold for a few hours, at least. By the time the White Fang overrun any portion of the defense, the teams will be awake and joined up with the reserve forces."

"And if the White Fang overrun the defense before they can rouse themselves?"

"Then we're already doomed," Taiyang was clearly tired of arguing. "If the soldiers can't hold for even a few minutes, the entire kingdom won't last the night."

Winter hated to admit that he was right. Something about putting her most potent assets to rest when the attack was about to fall seemed wrong...but was intellectually correct.

"How about the two of you?" She asked, instead of arguing.

"I'm an old man," Tai shrugged, with a slight grin that proved his statement a lie. "I don't need sleep as much as I did when I was younger."

"We're both prepared," Raven added. While the sidelong glance she gave her former partner showed irritation, Winter swore she noted just a bit of affection, as well.

"So what's the lifesaving plan?" Tai asked. "What's the rabbit you'll pull out of the hat when all seems lost?"

Winter only glared at him.

"You have something up your sleeves," Raven added. "An Atlesian drilling the student huntsmen, then going on a patrol to confirm the attack is about to happen? This continued farce of a dust shortage, when it's pouring into the ordinance shops? What's really going on here?"

"A plan the two of us came up with, shortly after the major arrived in this city," Colonel Arvaken told them, now showing up at the vantage point. "The major pointed out the similarities between what Vale went through before the attack on Beacon and what Mistral was enduring. When she convinced me, I managed to get my superiors to approve the funds to hire the students, without Headmaster Lionheart's knowledge, for jobs on the southern border. We also shifted most of our soldiers and what dust we had down here. Now that the Schnee Dust Company is exporting dust at its old rate, the dust shortage won't last, but we might still make this work."

"You're baiting them!" Raven declared. "You think that the headmaster is setting up the kingdom to fall, so you're making it look like he succeeded!"

You're trying to look weak, so they'll attack while they think they have an advantage," Taiyang continued her thought. "You're trying to look weak, so they'll attack where you're prepared!"

"It's our best chance," Arvaken told her. "The major gave us a solid analysis of these new rifles that the White Fang have. Yes, they're deadly, accurate at long range, and will punch right through an aura, but they still have some disadvantages to old fashioned dust weapons."

"They don't have effects other than impact and penetration," Winter told the two hunters. "If a soldier takes cover, the bullets will simply strike cover and do nothing. A dust round will erupt in flame, or freeze the position with ice."

"So you're trying to set up a situation where your forces will be under cover during the fight," Taiyang concluded.

"I don't want to have a fight at all," the colonel told him. "But if there's going to be one, I want my command to have every advantage I can give it."

"I hope you're right," Tai told him. "If you're planning doesn't prove up to the attack, you're going to have an awful lot of letters to write, some to parents who thought their kids were at the academy."

"One of those letters will be to my own parents," the colonel told him. "My brother is a lieutenant at a border outpost east of here. In fact, he let your other daughter through." He offered a grim smile. "Besides, I have a few surprises for any attacker."

"Oh?" Raven asked. "And what would they be?"

"I hope you understand that I don't trust either of you enough, at least not yet, to let you know everything." Arvaken offered a slight smile.

"A wise precaution," Raven noted. "We'll learn them in another hour or so. That's how much daylight we have left, and I don't think that the White Fang will want to waste the dark."

The four stood there on the wall for several minutes, drinking in the irony of the peaceful, evening countryside beyond the wall that they all knew was about to erupt into chaos and violence. Winter felt conflicting emotions; nervousness, some fear and even some eagerness to see it through. Raven looked impassive, probably seeing it as nothing more than yet another trial to be overcome. Taiyang looked disgusted, as a teacher, he most likely saw only the loss of young lives coming up. The tension was broken by the first reports from the scouts, indicating that the White Fang was on the move.

"I have to go back to the command post," the colonel told them. "Best of luck to everyone."

"And to yourself, colonel," Winter snapped to attention as he left. Once he was gone, she relaxed slightly. "Go get your teams and put them in position," she ordered the two. "It won't be long now."

There were no wishes for good luck, no motivational sayings. Somehow, Tai and Raven had grown well beyond it and for Winter, making any sort of statement would have made her sound childish. Instead, the Atlesian retreated to her observation point; an enclosed control facility from which she had communications with key subordinate units. She squelched a momentary surge of guilt for not being out and exposed as the troops executing the plans she helped develop would be, but her taking additional risks would not alleviate theirs. Instead, she projected a map of the city on one wall and watched as contact reports were indicated on it.

Winter assumed that Adam Taurus was leading the White Fang, and he was no fool. The contact reports soon indicated this; the attackers were approaching the city on multiple routes. The scouts outside the walls had been ordered to keep low, report and sit out the fight, but the White Fang were clearly patrolling the area, perhaps literally sniffing out the hidden Mistraleans. One by one, the observation posts reported White Fang searching their areas. After this, most went off of the air. She closed her eyes for a moment, knowing that the dying, on both sides, had already begun.

Still, the Mistralean observers were having an affect. While none of the surviving outposts reported large columns, their reports told Winter where the main force _wasn't_. The extra effort the attackers had put in to scouring certain areas allowed Winter to make educated guesses about where the main force was. She passed her suspicions on to the colonel, hoping that she was right, and the sacrifices already being made would prove worth it.

The sun had been down for a little over an hour when another contact report came in; this one from an observer on the wall. Even in her command point, she could hear gunfire from outside the wall. She broadcast an order to all units under her control, reminding them to allow the White Fang to close within the pre-selected maximum engagement distance before returning fire. Then she took a deep breath. The time for planning had passed and it was now time for action and reaction.

The first thing that Winter did was forward a contact report to her own superiors. Soon, her scroll showed her that the embassy's antenna had forwarded the message to Atlas. Satisfied that her general now knew that the attack was taking place, she confirmed that her scroll would keep her updated and left her command post for where she expected the main attack to fall. Once in position, she observed the handful of Mistralean defenders on the wall. They were following orders, using their weapons in single-shot mode and keeping under cover as much as they could. Return fire dug into the walls and she saw one unfortunate soldier take a chance hit to his chest. A medic quickly applied a pressure bandage and dragged the man off while Winter risked a peek over the wall.

From the dark countryside, dozens of sparkling points indicated where weapons were firing in her direction. More and more weapons came to life, telling her that more and more White Fang were firing upon this sector. The occasional flame round from the defenders burst among the attackers, giving her teasing glimpses of advancing silhouettes. Listening to additional reports, she quickly concluded that she had guessed correctly, and the White Fang were focusing on this sector.

"Reserve force alpha to sector four," Colonel Arvaken's call came over the scroll. "Major Schnee, are you at this location?"

"Roger," Winter replied.

"Call the illumination after the reserve force is prepared."

"Wilco," she confirmed, then risked more observation of the oncoming attackers, comparing the muzzle flashes against a marked map overlay on the wall.

A swarm of soldiers suddenly appeared around her, taking cover and remaining unseen by those outside. The soldiers were well-trained and professional, quickly preparing crew served weapons.

"Rifles, prepare to fire upon direct illumination!" She snapped. The order was passed down the line.

"Support team, activate illumination, sector four!" She ordered into her scroll. Moments later, floodlights on the wall illuminated the field outside.

Winter saw the White Fang that were attacking this section suddenly exposed as the night became day. All around her the defenders, both the original guards and the reserve force, cut loose with rapid fire. Some White Fang sought cover, others returned fire and still others sought to shoot out the floodlights. Several more soldiers fell, although the White Fang clearly got the worst of it, before the attackers shot out the lights. Winter continued to observe as the incoming fire increased again.

"All parties, fire upon illumination!" She ordered. Again, the command was sent down the line.

"Fire support, illuminate sector four, range 500 meters!" She barked into her scroll.

"Fire, over!" The reply came back.

Winter couldn't hear the small artillery pieces, what the Mistraleans called mortars, fire. However, she could easily see when six bundles of fire dust, suspended by small parachutes, suddenly caught fire above the attacking force. With this as their cue, all of the soldiers, including the heavy weapons crews, opened fire. Again, Winter looked at the carnage outside the walls. Some White Fang fled, others sought cover. The Mistraleans' fire quickly overwhelmed their attackers. By the time the flares spluttered out, the only White Fang visible were falling back.

"This sector is secure for now," Winter declared. "Reserve force, return to your assembly point!"

The lieutenant in charge nodded; there would be no salutes when under fire, and led her platoon off of the wall. Winter knew that they would draw ammunition, adjust to their losses, and prepare to reinforce the next threatened sector. As the soldiers trotted off, she heard Colonel Arvaken call for reserve force beta to reinforce sector two. Looking in that direction, she saw several rockets rise from beyond the walls and fly into the city, where they exploded in balls of flame.

" _Action and reaction,_ " she thought. " _Move and countermove. Will the White Fang now avoid this sector? Would they assume that we've burned through most of our dust? Was this just a probing attack?_ " Only time would tell. Examining her scroll, she noted that sector one was receiving increasing fire. Taking a deep breath, she rushed off to that position while the defenders illuminated the countryside outside of sector two, exposing the rocket launchers. The firing from that position quickly rose to a crescendo, blasts of fire, ice and electricity burst among the launchers, shredding the crews. Again, the White Fang retreated.

She reached sector one on the wall just as the colonel ordered his third reserve force to reinforce it. Upon finding out that she was present, Colonel Arvaken put her in charge of the defense. Again, Winter used first floodlights, then illumination rounds to expose the oncoming White Fang to murderous fire. Again, they retreated. While she confirmed that they weren't getting ready for another attack, the commander sent his fourth, and final, reserve force to sector three.

" _If they can't learn anything more than move forward and shoot, we won't need Atlas to reinforce us,_ " Winter thought, as she sent the reserve force back off of the wall. " _I thought Adam Taurus was smarter than this._ "

"Infiltrators in the city!" Colonel Arvaken's voice sounded over her scroll. We have hostiles in the city behind sector three! Reserve force alpha, secure the area! Teams ABRN and NSSY, support them!"

"Acknowledged!" Winter recognized the nervous voice of the lieutenant who led the alpha reserve force. Moments later, first Raven then Taiyang acknowledged that they were leading their teams into the area.

"On my way!" Winter snapped into her scroll, then drew her rapier and took off at a sprint.

"Advise once you're on site!" Arvaken instructed her. Winter saw no need to reply just now, as her breath was better utilized to get her to the threatened area of the city.

She could hear the White Fang's firearms barking ahead of her, answered by a handful of dust weapons. She turned a corner just as several more fire-dust parachutes sparked into life above the contested portion of the city. They revealed White Fang shooting up the defenders on the wall, who were horribly exposed to an attack from inside the city. A smattering of dust rounds, which quickly increased into a roar, heralded the arrival of the Mistralean relief force. The White Fang quickly lost interest in the soldiers on the wall and took cover in several buildings. Within moments, bullets and dust rounds crisscrossed each other.

Winter kicked in the door of what in peaceful times was a clothing store and took refuge inside. Three members of the White Fang must have had the same idea, bursting in through a window. Unfortunately for them, they were in extremely close quarters with a well-trained huntress who had seen several defenders fall already. She was in no mood for mercy. The White Fang weren't trained properly and two didn't even have active auras. The first man went down before they knew they were under attack, the second simply pulled her trigger and tried to bring the firing weapon to bear. Winter got inside the muzzle arc and chopped off her leg, yanking the weapon out of her hands. The final White Fang fired a better aimed burst, but Winter's use of glyphs allowed her to avoid the bullets and close with him. With her foes dispatched, she observed the ongoing firefight.

The tactics that she and the colonel had developed seemed to work well. The White Fang and the Mistraleans each occupied several buildings and fired upon each other. In this sort of setting, the dust rounds seemed to have a slight advantage over the bullets, but not decisively so. The decisive advantage was the two hunter teams. The soldiers increased fire on two buildings, keeping the White Fang under cover while Taiyang and Raven led their teams in close. At a hand signal, the soldiers shifted their fire while the teams burst inside. In such close quarters, the hunters had the advantage and quickly eliminated the White Fang in the targeted buildings. Another hand signal and soldiers rushed into the newly cleared structures, providing covering fire for the teams to move on the next ones.

Winter frowned, despite the success. The White Fang weren't idiots. At this rate the infiltrators would be wiped out in the next hour? What was the point of engaging just for the sake of being wiped out? A sudden chill came over her and she reached for her scroll.

"Sector three, what do you observe outside of the wall?" She demanded.

"Nothing," a frightened, young voice answered. "There's no illumination."

"Support, illuminate outside sector three!" Winter ordered.

"Negative," the response sounded. "All efforts are required to illuminate areas under attack!"

"Spare one round!" She snapped. "This could all be a diversion!"

"I concur," Colonel Arvaken's voice sounded over the device. "Do it on my authority!"

It seemed to take forever, but three of the parachutes suddenly burst into flame outside of the wall.

"We have a large assembly of White Fang outside sector three!" The young voice shouted. "Battalion strength, minimum!"

Winter realized that it must be a subordinate taking over for a fallen commander.

"Wait, there's more at the base of the wall! What are they hauling in? It's..."

With a bright flash and a jolt she could feel in her feet, the wall shattered in front of Winter. In horror, she watched it collapse, carrying the few defenders left on top of it down into a churning mass of rubble as the explosion's roar finally hit her ears.

"Wall breach, sector three!" She shouted into her scroll. "Reserve force alpha, teams NSSY and ABRN, cease counterattack operations! Fall back to the inner line of Tiyatro Street!"

Winter rushed into the melee, determined to make sure that the retreat didn't turn into a rout. Reserve force alpha was down to about three quarters of its effective strength and both student teams now had wounded. Taiyang carried Sage back from the latest building they had cleared, and were now abandoning, while Yang, Neptune and Scarlet provided covering fire. Nearby, Arsan needed Borin to help support her while the remainder of their team covered their retreat. Winter took personal command of one of the reserve force's fire teams, bounding the entire force back to put the wide, Tiyatro Street in front of them. She could no longer see the breach, but the increasing fire from the White Fang told her that they were pouring through it and into the city.

Colonel Arvaken sent two of his remaining three reserve forces, depleted as they were, to Winter's sector. She struggled to place them along the street in strong positions, maintaining unit integrity, while under fire. She was barely aware of the colonel calling for his artillery to fire illumination rounds outside the city walls in other sectors, confirming that this was the main, perhaps only, current effort.

The currently contested section of the city hadn't been evacuated. Winter could do nothing for those civilians in areas now controlled by the White Fang, and it tore at her. She managed to locate a couple of police officers and put them to work getting the civilians clear of the immediate area, while keeping the streets clear for military traffic. The White Fang were soon on the offensive, trying to force their way further into the city. Winter had established her defense well, behind a wide route with interlocking fields of fire. After two failed rushes, and heavy casualties, the White Fang concentrated fire upon her crew-served weapons then tried again, gaining a toehold on the Mistralean side of the street.

Winter personally led the hunter teams in a counterattack, eliminating the White Fang bridgehead while new soldiers replaced the fallen crews and shifted the heavy weapons' positions. After this, the exhausted Atlesian scouted multiple alternate positions for each of the weapons and moved them, one at a time. During the shift, the White Fang attacked again, but their support fire fell on empty locations and their assault force again suffered heavy casualties in a failed attack. Relative peace fell over the city, as both sides contented themselves with occasional sniping.

" _Move and counter-move_ ," she thought to herself. " _They act, we adapt. What will they come up with next_?" She looked at the sky and realized that it was now the early hours in the morning. As the sun had set the previous day, she had been confident in their ability to hold the city. Now, she hoped they could contain the White Fang until General Ironwood arrived.

For over an hour, the battle simmered. Random single shots, probably fired more at shadows than at actual adversaries, would occasionally prompt a sudden and short exchange of fire. Casualties were taken, and probably inflicted, Winter had no way of knowing for sure. It was perhaps an hour before sunup when the White Fang made their final move.

A wave of rockets flew from the White Fang side of Tiyatro Street, concentrating on a one hundred meter section of the Mistralean side. Winter suddenly understood that they had made use of the lull to drag the weapons into position. Under this fusillade, the resistance in this section collapsed and the White Fang poured across, covered by fire on the flanks. Winter reported the situation to Colonel Arvaken and led the hunter teams and her slim reserves in a desperate counterattack. This was horrific combat, battling through abandoned shops, stores and apartment buildings. Illumination parachutes had little effect inside the buildings and the White Fang's bullets could punch through most of the walls. Most of her reserves had become casualties when Colonel Arvaken called for her to retreat. Dragging their dead and wounded with them, the Mistraleans heard the colonel play his last card.

Four construction vehicles, which had been fitted with crude armor, had finally made the journey from the city's center. They lurched onto Tiyatro Street and lumbered into the White Fang's crossing point. They weren't Atlesian Mechs, but they were armored well enough to withstand bullets and the soldiers aboard them were able to halt the White Fang's efforts. The last of the colonel's reserve forces then arrived. Winter, with Taiyang and Raven beside her, led these last reserves in a final counterattack. Winter had to admit that the fact that the remaining White Fang in the toehold were exhausted and disorganized made the difference. The last of the Mistralean reserves were fairly fresh, organized and fully armed while the White Fang were running low on ammunition. Finally, they eliminated the last of the White Fang on her side of the street. Calling in her success, Winter watched two of the construction vehicles lumber off of the street while the other two burned.

The sun was now peeking over the eastern horizon and Winter knew hope again. The air fleet should arrive at any minute. Taking advantage of another lull, she attempted to report to the Atlesian Military. She received no response and after several minutes, embassy staff informed her that the transmitter appeared to be down. A vague feeling of unease settled in, only to be squashed by a report from one of the few scouts remaining outside the city walls.

The White Fang were retreating.

The retreat was handled with skill. The White Fang force bounded backwards, with a cover force always firing upon the Mistraleans. Colonel Arvaken chose to not press the issue. His soldiers were depleted, low on ammunition and exhausted. The Mistraleans advanced, but slowly, cautiously and not too close to the retreating White Fang. Finally, they stood upon the pile of rubble where a section of the city wall used to stand. With a few more commands, the colonel had support personnel hauling off the wounded and bringing in more ammunition and a hot meal. An airship, maintaining a very high altitude, shadowed the defeated foe away from the city.

The aftermath was horrible, picking through the rubble and gutted buildings, searching for wounded and dead soldiers, civilians and enemy. A night of hard fighting hadn't helped the soldiers; everyone was exhausted and stunned. Forcing herself to show energy and confidence, Winter struggled to be an example. Raven Branwen also pitched in, even though one arm was in a sling, Taiyang was limping on a wounded leg, but he too provided a huntsman's leadership.

"How are your teams?" Winter asked them.

"All are wounded," Taiyang answered, his voice solemn. "But all of them will recover in a couple of days."

"Your daughter?" Winter prompted, with an eyebrow arched.

"Two bullets through the left thigh, one through the right calf," he grumbled, his jaws tense. "They punched right through her aura. It appears she'll keep the leg, but beyond that?" He could only shake his head.

"And you're not with her?" Winter questioned.

"She's with her teammates," Raven shrugged. "And you need us here."

That was a true statement. While neither of the hunters could perform the heavy labor they could while uninjured, their years of hard life had given them a practical outlook. Swarms of civilians showed up to help in the recovery effort and when they quailed in horror at what they saw, Raven and Taiyang led by example and got the work going. Bodies and wounded were pulled from the battlefield to hospitals and makeshift morgues. Colonel Arvaken was everywhere, keeping at least a modicum of organization to the efforts and reorganizing his defenses. Winter, on the other hand, was distracted by the continued absence of, and silence from, the air fleet.

Around noon, watchers on the wall called another alert, followed by the growls and roars of oncoming grimm. Suddenly, Winter understood why the White Fang had pulled out. While the attack had been horrific enough, the continued horrors of a battle's aftermath, especially when experienced by the local civilians, had generated even more negative emotions.

Exhausted soldiers stumbled forward, taking up positions in the breach. They had repelled the White Fang, but that was only the first assault.

The second battle for Kuchinashi was about to start.

* * *

 _(A/N: Another time reset)_

"So what now?"

The question hung in the dark forest, not having an impact on the small, dark haired young woman who was looking with horror to the east. Time went by with no answer.

"So what now?" It was Nora's voice asking the question. Somehow, the girl who seemed so blissfully simple most of the time was trying to focus the team.

Ruby's mind was forced to react to the question, to actually contemplate what they were supposed to do. Reluctantly, her brain bit into the issue at hand: the criminals who had helped do this were close at hand, a bomb, powerful enough for the flash to be seen scores of miles away, had gone off in BatiKiyisi. There were two more such bombs on Remnant; one on a ship heading for Atlas and another in Mistral City.

"We have to get down there," Jaune's voice whispered, almost unable to be heard. "There will be survivors, hurt people. We have to help them."

"No!" Ruby forced herself to speak, remembering to keep her voice quiet. "We have to deal with Torchwick! He did this, we have to make him pay for it. We go down to their camp and deal with them. When the truck convoy passes by in the morning, we load them on it and drag them to wherever there's a jail to hold them."

"Not now," Ren quietly interrupted. "The four of them form a powerful team. I do not know if we can prevail against them. However, they said that Cinder expected Mercury to report to her within the week. From their conversations, it seems that she is a substantial distance away. If Mercury were to leave, we will have a much better chance against the three."

"But Mercury...Penny...Yang..." Ruby started to stammer.

"Sometimes, no matter how horrific a situation, you cannot do anything about it," Ren told her, sadly. Then, he showed a rare, mischievous smile.

"Until later," Nora finished his thought. The ginger-haired girl's smile proved short lived. "We can't do very much for the people in BatiKiyisi. If we go down to Torchwick's camp and he beats us, we're not going to be around to do anyone any good. It might not feel right, but we have to think, rather than just act."

"So, what do we do now?" Ruby asked.

"First, we quit arguing where Torchwick's bunch might overhear us," Ren told her. "I suggest we go back to the truck caravan and warn them so they do not pass by here. If they do so, Torchwick might attack them."

"And the trucks, and whatever the cargo they're carrying, might be of use to any survivors in BatiKiyisi," Jaune murmured.

"We can't do anything else here," Nora added. "Let's help whoever we can."

Ruby didn't like the thought, but she couldn't argue. Again, she felt like the little girl in the team, acting on emotion rather than reason, but it hurt so much to see Torchwick strutting around his campfire, practically crowing about the situation. Before she followed her friends into the night, Ruby got a solid look at the others in Torchwick's group. Neo wore the same smile she always seemed to have, apparently not affected by the events. Mercury looked a little uneasy, like he didn't want to look to the east, but was unable to keep himself from doing so. Emerald, on the other hand, looked horrified. It gave Ruby a little bit of hope, as she stalked off into the forest until the villains' camp was out of sight. Maybe the other side wasn't as united as they seemed.

Nora and Ren kept the team moving. The two orphans forced their companions to gather their possessions. As she rolled up her sleeping bag, Ruby realized that it made sense; a hard life had driven common sense into their very pores. While packing their sleeping bags seemed pointless to her and Jaune, seeing as how many people had probably just died, Ren and Nora realized that going cold wouldn't help the folks in the devastated town. They knew that abandoning their gear wouldn't prevent the other two bombs from being used. There was nothing to do but to continue, as best they could.

"We better report this," Jaune suddenly blurted out, before they could start the hike back to the convoy. "Besides, I need to get the antenna."

The other three nodded while he trudged off into the night. After a short delay, he returned, a troubled look on his face.

"I couldn't get a response," he told them. "Not even the automated response. The device is functioning, but there's no answer."

"Could there have been attacks on Mistral and Atlas?" Ruby asked, her eyes widening.

"We can do nothing about them at this time," Ren told her. "We must deal with what is in front of us."

"But what if this bunch slip off while we're gone?" Ruby demanded. "How much more trouble could they cause? We need to keep an eye on them!"

Ren and Nora suddenly looked less confident than they had a short time ago.

"Let me and Jaune go send the convoy back to the town," she urged. "The two of you can keep an eye on this bunch and we'll join you back here!"

"That actually makes sense," Nora offered.

"I don't like splitting up," Jaune declared.

"We have no choice," Ren decided. "We have two tasks to perform, so we must split to do them both. Nora and I have spied on people before. We will be waiting when you get back."

They were all nervous about this, so they grasped wrists before Ruby and Jaune started their journey, moving as quickly as they safely could through the dark forest. By an unspoken agreement, they hiked roughly a kilometer away from their starting position, then returned to the road so they could make better time. They were both young and fit, and they were upset enough that they didn't feel like talking, so they made very good time. Roughly an hour after taking to the road, with the true dawn just touching the eastern horizon, the camp's guard shouted a challenge to them.

Soon they were talking to the caravan master, telling him everything that they knew. The truckers had seen the burst of light, but didn't know the story until Jaune and Ruby told them. The master was troubled, having difficulty making up his mind, but he was an experienced man.

"There will be grimm about," he sighed. "There are sure to be survivors; hurt, scared, angry, you name it. The harsh emotions will bring the grimm but you're right, you have to follow those that did this. If you don't, more such things may happen. We have to get back to town and give what help we can. I'll fill your packs with provisions, it's all that I can do other than wish you luck."

In the end, Ruby and Jaune couldn't offer him anything. They could only accept the food, turn around and put their tired feet back on the road. Despite the fact that they had been in good shape before they left Patch, and that the trek across Anima had hardened them, they were still exhausted. Roots and stones that they would have ordinarily simply stepped across seemed to reach up to trip them. Branches that they would have ordinarily sidestepped scratched and entangled them. Despite the daylight, they weren't very familiar with their surroundings and it was fortunate for them that Roman Torchwick couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut. This loud voice led them in the correct direction and they were soon reunited with their friends.

"Not much happening, except Torchwick nearly dislocating his shoulder from patting himself on the back," Nora told them, after they roused her at their assembly point. She seemed even more sleepy than Ruby and Jaune, as having been awoken from a couple hours' sleep is sometimes more tiring than no sleep at all.

"Why don't the two of you get some rest?" Jaune told them. "I want to try to report in. When I get back, I'll spell Ren."

Ruby wanted to argue; even though she was two years younger, she was an equal partner. It wasn't right that he was willing to keep going while she rested...but she just couldn't find it in herself to argue. Instead, she unrolled her bag and sprawled out on top.

"You can set up the antenna right here, can't you?" She asked him, sleepily.

"I guess so," he shrugged.

"Then why don't you?" She struggled to keep her eyes open. "I'd rather you stayed close."

"Agreed," he nodded. "I can keep an eye on the two of you while I report."

"No," she countered, yawning again. "I don't want to lose you."

For a moment, she was embarrassed, wondering if that last remark carried a double meaning. However, she was too tired, and her head was now on her pack. She was too comfortable to really wonder if he figured out...something that she hadn't figured out herself. Instead, she was quickly asleep.

Her next memory was a hand shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Nora looking down at her.

"Rise and shine, sleepy butt," the ginger smirked. "Jaune took over from Ren and I took over from Jaune. It's your turn to watch the bad guys."

"What's happening?" Ruby asked, struggling to get her brain working. She noted that the sun was to the west of noon. She had slept most of the morning.

"From what we've been able to figure out, that bunch is waiting until sundown before they do anything," Nora told her. "An airship is supposed to show up around then and take Mercury off to report to Cinder. After that, the other three are planning on driving to Soguk Su." Her expression dropped. "They're going to tell everyone that they saw the Atlesian air fleet flying towards BatiKiyisi before the explosion."

"They're trying to blame Atlas!" Ruby gasped.

"Which means that we have to bring them in," Nora nodded. "It won't be easy, but we want to wait until after Mercury is gone."

Ruby nodded, pulled on her boots and crept to the observation point they had set up. There wasn't much activity in the camp. When Torchwick drove in the previous night, he had brought some take-out with him and the four were finishing it up, an act that reminded Ruby that she hadn't eaten very much for the last day. Other than that, the four spent most of their time either napping or playing with their scrolls. She watched for a little over an hour, growing more hungry by the minute, when Roman had a few words with Neo. The petite woman offered a perky nod, her innocent smile still in place, and left the camp, towards the road.

" _Probably checking on the car,_ " Ruby shrugged.

For another half hour, the three remaining poked at their scrolls, finished their meal and threw the trash into the smoldering fire. Eventually, Neo returned and handed Torchwick her scroll. He gave her a sharp look and said something in a low tone, that Ruby couldn't hear. Neo simply smiled and nodded.

"Very smooth, little girl!" He growled at Emerald. "Decided to carve your initials into my car seat, and I just got it reupholstered."

"What are you talking about, Roman?" She demanded.

"Oh, you're telling me there isn't an ES cut into the seat?" His voice rose with righteous indignation. "You can just come with me right now!"

Before Emerald could complain, Torchwick grabbed her and half-dragged her out of the clearing, towards the road. Ruby stifled a giggle at her predicament but continued to watch the camp. Neo sat down, while Mercury shot a half-amused, half concerned glance in the direction the other two had taken.

For over an hour, there was no more activity in the camp. Ruby struggled to stay awake as both Neo and Mercury showed no need to do so. Despite the danger she knew she was in, the fact that she hadn't gotten adequate sleep meant that she was in real danger of drifting off. She wished that her companions could prepare food, but knew that they couldn't risk a fire. It was going to be stale bread and water today. She heaved a sigh, such was the life of a huntress.

A shout back at her team's camp jolted her out of the daze she had fallen into. This wasn't right! Sure, it was well away from Torchwick's camp, but that didn't mean they could be careless. She gasped in horror when she looked back into Torchwick's camp and found it deserted. She jumped to her feet and rushed back to her team, one horrible conclusion in her mind.

Emerald!

She burst into the camp in time to see Torchwick strike Jaune down. Neo was subduing Nora while Emerald and Mercury were teamed up against Ren. Cursing herself, she roared in anger and charged in. It was so clear now! Neo spotted the camp, passed a message on to Torchwick, who got Emerald out of the camp to cast an illusion on Ruby, making her think that all was normal.

Stupid, stupid of her to fall for it!

Ruby activated her semblance and swept Emerald's feet out from under her as she swept by. Emerald dropped to the ground, but she had managed to tangle Ren's weapons enough to let Mercury land a clean kick on the younger man's chin. Ren sprawled to the ground, stunned. Turning, Ruby saw Roman land a savage strike to Jaune's head while Neo slipped inside Nora's hammer-swing and hip-tossed the girl into a tree.

If Team RNJR hadn't been caught by surprise, if they weren't exhausted from an all night search and surveillance, it might have been a more even fight. However, this was the situation Ruby found herself in. She swept forward again, intent on Mercury this time. Before she could reach him, Emerald threw one of her sickles, entangling Ruby's feet in the connecting chain. As she tumbled through the woods, she saw Mercury land a powerful kick on the prostrate Ren. A tree suddenly halted her progress.

Blinking the stars out of her eyes, Ruby scrambled to her feet and spotted Emerald. Growling, the young teen used one of her precious rounds to launch herself towards her quarry, twirling to present an oncoming, spinning vortex of sharp steel. Emerald only had a moment for her eyes to widen in shock before Crescent Rose made contact...

But the scythe simply passed through the traitorous girl, not drawing blood. Ruby had only a moment to realize that Emerald had used another illusion before Neo was on top of her. The petite assassin must have leaped in from above, she secured a headlock and used her body as a lever, throwing Ruby into the air. The younger girl managed to twist around and land on her feet, but Torchwick was already there, landing a strike on the back of her head. Ruby staggered forward and drove Neo back with her spinning scythe but now she had to block one of Mercury's kicks, then took a dust round from Torchwick's staff. This gave Neo the opportunity to slide in close and deliver a double kick. Ruby's aura sparkled and failed. The last thing she saw, before everything went dark, was Mercury's oncoming boot.

* * *

Weiss had never been so happy to see a military officer in her life. Even when Winter came home from an assignment, the joy of seeing didn't match the sense of relief the younger Schnee felt upon seeing a submarine's conning tower emerge from the sea and disgorge a captain onto the deck of the Kaltes Schiff. When the man's highly-polished boot stepped onto the weathered wood, much of her responsibility shifted to someone better trained to handle it.

"Excellent work, Miss Schnee," the stern-looking man offered a slight bow. "Before I release your team, I need to speak to both you and the ship's captain."

Weiss nodded, although she really wanted to be on her airship and headed home. Her burns were painful and her aura had been depleted to the point that they were only healing at a normal rate. Furthermore, Dr. Physiker was still here, technically in danger and Ron was...well, Ron was upset. Still, a Schnee didn't shirk her responsibilities just because things were rough. She asked Flynt and Neon to keep an eye on Ron before accompanying the officer, Major Hofisch, to the forward hold. They found the ship's captain observing Dr. Physiker. The older woman seemed almost girlish, pulling a strange cylinder from a torn, aluminum container with almost childlike glee.

"Captain," the major offered the ship's commander a shallow, yet respectful, bow. "I am Major Hofisch, of the Atlesian Military. With your permission, my crew will take your prisoners off of your hands."

"Gladly," the middle-aged man offered a hand to the officer. "The only facilities we have for them is the ocean herself."

The major nodded and spoke a curt order into the microphone on his lapel. "I have some less pleasant news for you, so I must ask, do you wish to see the organization that sent these hijackers onto you ship found out and punished?"

"That sounds like a setup," the captain looked wary. "Just what kind of sacrifice are you asking me?"

"Nothing permanent," the major assured him. "I wish you to change your course and speed. We are going to take you away from the regular shipping lanes and have you dock, covertly, at a military base."

"And what will this serve?" The captain demanded.

"We will report your ship as having sunk," Major Hofisch told him. "We will transfer a couple of your crew to a patrol boat, along with one of the prisoners, to be publicly unloaded at the Mantle docks. When the organization behind this act hears of the sinking and sees the proof, they may very well take action that our intelligence service can detect."

"And what's to keep you from cleaning up loose ends?" The captain countered. "Actually sink my ship, with the crew aboard, to make your story easier to maintain?"

"I won't let it happen," Weiss declared. "If it's acceptable to everyone, I'll take one of your crewmen with me, to be a guest at the Schnee Mansion until after the military releases your ship and crew."

"It's acceptable to me," the major nodded his gratitude towards Weiss.

"And to me," the captain agreed. "But what about compensation for my crew and owners? We carry valuable cargo, for which the owners expect payment and from which I pay my crew. Plus, our reputation is damaged if we take part in this."

Weiss was about to open her mouth and offer to compensate all parties, but Dr. Physiker beat her to it.

"I don't think that will be necessary," the older woman said, while still working on the cylinder. "This cylinder, plus the sphere I removed earlier, are comprised of a material I have never seen before, that I suspect exists nowhere else on Remnant. In addition, the explosives I removed are of a mystery type, as well. If I understand maritime law, did the hijackers not surrender their ownership to this bomb when they seized the ship?"

"Yes..." the major nodded.

"Furthermore, did they not surrender the ownership to the ship and crew?" Dr. Physiker smiled as she pulled the cylinder the rest of the way out of the aluminum and focused her scroll upon it.

"Indeed," Major Hofisch showed a very small smile.

"In that case, the Atlas Academy of Science is very interested in purchasing the sphere, the cylinder, and the explosives. As they are rare, we will pay five times the sphere and cylinders' weight in gold."

"Bah, ten times," the captain countered. "And you'll pay the weight of the explosives in fire dust!"

"That would be the second act of robbery on this ship!" Physiker snapped back, although she had the ghost of a smile on her face. She frowned slightly at her scroll then touched it to the cylinder. Her eyebrow quirked at what she observed.

"Then seven times the cylinder and spheres' weight in gold," the captain demanded. "And I'll throw in the explosives for free."

"Deal!" The doctor agreed. She had secretly been willing to pay the captain's original asking price...and consider it a bargain. "Why don't we get a scale and find out what Atlas actually owes you?"

The captain's smile was wide as he excused himself to find the appliance, and to determine which crewman would spend time on the Schnee Estate.

"My thanks, doctor," the major offered the woman a slight bow. "You dealt with a potential problem."

"And worked in my own self interest," she added. "If you don't mind, I'd like to remain on board the ship. While the heavy metals aren't showing the danger that Ron told me they would, they have some interesting characteristics. I can keep them in the forward hold, away from people, while I confirm that they pose no danger."

"What danger are you talking about?" Weiss asked.

"Ron claimed that they emit a certain energy that can be harmful." The doctor shrugged. "I can detect no such energy emanating from them...unless I put the scroll in physical contact with either the sphere or the cylinder. Even then, the intensity of the energy released is barely detectable. Still, better safe than sorry."

"Your presence aboard will provide more assurances to the captain and his remaining crew," the major nodded, then turned to Weiss. "Miss Schnee, as a representative of the Atlesian government, I thank you for your service and declare this ship secure and your mission complete. You are relieved and are free to return home."

"Thank you, major," Weiss offered a slight nod before climbing out of the hold. Her airship was hovering just above the aft deck and a crewman was scrambling up a gangplank and into the passenger compartment.

"We're all secure!" Neon shouted from the aircraft. "We're ready to go as soon as you come aboard!"

Deciding that the captain would be more interested in finding out how much the Academy of Science owed him than hearing a goodbye from her, Weiss strode up the gangplank and onto her airship.

"Let's get some bandages on those burns," Neon told her. The faunas hustled Weiss to a comfortable seat and produced a first aid kit. As student hunters, they had all taken classes in first aid, so Neon was able to get some dressings and bandages on Weiss' wounds. While her aura would heal them fairly quickly, the process would be expedited by proper care.

"How's Ron?" She asked her caretaker. "He seemed shook up when he came out of the hold."

"He's..." Neon hesitated. "Well, maybe you can talk to him in a minute."

That didn't sound good. Board meetings had taught Weiss that evasions like that didn't herald good news. Still, she forced herself to sit still and allow the nimble girl to finish her work. Once done, Weiss thanked her and followed her to the forward compartment, where Flynt was trying to talk to Ron. Upon seeing the two, he stood up.

"He tore up his hands pretty bad taking the bomb apart," Flynt told them, his voice low. "He really didn't care about me taking care of them, but I did anyway."

"Why's he so upset?" Weiss asked him.

"I don't know," Flynt shook his head. "The two of you are close, maybe he'll talk to you if we're out of the picture."

"Oh, I can talk with the sailor!" Neon gushed, heading towards the passenger compartment. "I always wanted to know what it was like to live at sea!"

Flynt offered Weiss a short nod before following his exuberant teammate out of the forward compartment.

"Hey Ron," Weiss approached her partner, once the two of them were alone. "How bad are your hands hurt?"

Ron just shrugged. Weiss sat next to him and looked him over, trying to find something to say.

"Where did this sword come from?" She asked him, noticing a blue, glowing blade on his lap.

"It's the Lotus Blade," he whispered, no energy in his voice. "I needed to cut open the bomb, so I called it."

He struggled a little, trying to continue.

"It...won't go back," he finally said. "Whenever I called it back on Earth, I had to have it sent back to Yamanouchi. It's the same here, it won't go back when I tell it to."

Weiss' hand found its way to her mouth.

"It was my only way of finding my way back home," he sobbed a little. "And now it's here. I don't belong here, but I can't go home."

Weiss hand found its way to his shoulder, trying to show her support for him.

"I tried to do the right thing," he whispered. "And now...I'm just a ghost, aren't I?"

* * *

 _A/N: Thanks to everyone who's been reading and leaving comments. They really help keep the motivation going._

 _Biggest thanks, as always, to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	26. Chapter 26

Weiss Schnee wasn't used to being tenuous about anything. A lifetime of privilege and training had taught her to be decisive and bold. When she wanted something, she first considered why she wanted it, and then she acted to obtain it. This was right; the Kingdom of Mistral was in danger and that meant that the entire world was in danger. Someone needed to step up and make things right and she was willing to do so, even if she needed help. There was no shame in the admission, correcting this situation was something beyond one person, so asking for help was the right thing to do.

So why did she hesitate to knock on the guest room door?

Taking a deep breath, she rapped on the polished wood and stood back, hands professionally locked behind her back.

There was no response.

Sighing, she knocked and waited...again without an acknowledgment. Now growling, she pulled out her scroll and called him...it went to voice mail. Clearly, the polite approach wasn't going to work.

"Ron, you better be decent in there, because I'm about to come in!" She called. After waiting a half minute to allow him to prepare himself, she grabbed the knob to find that it was locked.

Weiss was in no mood to demand that he unlock the door. As the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, as well as the mansion, she didn't need to. She pulled out her scroll and activated the petition to unlock the door. Stuffing the device back into her pocket, she pushed the door open, mentally braced for whatever she might see.

It could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse.

Ron was sitting on his bed, the Lotus Blade across his lap and his world's version of a scroll in his hand. While there were tear streaks through the grime on his face, the tears weren't still falling. He had apparently cried himself out and was now...numb. More to the point, his filthy clothing and dirty face told her that he hadn't visited the shower. This wasn't a good sign.

"Ron, Kline put together a meal for us," she told him. "It will be ready in a few minutes."

"Not hungry," he murmured, his eyes never leaving the device in his hand. Weiss approached him and looked. It was a recording of a redheaded girl.

Although Weiss hadn't seen the image before this moment, she knew that it had to be Kim. There was a resemblance to Pyrrha Nikos, even though the late girl's hair was darker. Also, Kim had the overly large mouth and nose, and the slightly smaller eyes, that Ron exhibited. Still, she was a very pretty girl. Even though it was violating his privacy, Weiss listened to the recording. Ron made no protest while the image stated something about not being happy studying where she was...something about coming up with another route for their future.

This was going to be difficult. Weiss had never dealt with a broken heart before.

"Ron," she gently placed her hand over the screen. "I know that it must be terrible to not have a way to go home. The people that mean so much to you; the person...you wanted to spend the rest of you life with...well, I can't understand how hard it is for you."

He just looked at her with swollen, blood-shot eyes. She caught her breath before continuing.

"I know it has to be harder on you than anything I've been through," she told him. "But I know some things about you. When I woke your soul, I gained a look into _you_. The main thing that makes you...you, is that you always answer when someone special to you needs help, no matter how much you're hurting."

There seemed to be a little lift to his eyes, so she forged on.

"You've told me some stories about the two of you," she pointed out. "And the one thing about you was that no matter how much you either wanted or didn't want to go, when she needed help, you were on the way. Because of this, she was a powerful force for good on your world."

"Now, I need you," she told him. "One of those bombs is still out there somewhere, probably in Mistral City. Millions of people could die if it goes off. I need your help to find and disable it."

"I'm no physicist, or weapons expert," he pointed out.

"But you've disabled one of the devices," she countered. "Which is one more than the rest of Remnant, combined. I also need you to discuss other effects; this...fallout...that you talk about. I want to visit BatiKiyisi, but I don't know if I dare go there...if I dare drag you, Neon, Flynt and the flight crew into something that could be deadly."

"I don't have a Geiger counter," Ron grumbled. "Dr. Physiker put a petition together, but I never downloaded it."

"I'll call my head of engineering," she told him. "We should be able to get a data link working through the dirigible to the ship. She can upload this petition and I'll be able to download it to all of our scrolls, so we'll know if we're endangering ourselves."

"I guess that makes sense," Ron shrugged. He seemed slow and listless, which was considerably more animated than he was when she first walked into the room. "What do you need me to do?"

"Take a shower and grab your ready bag," she told him. "Then meet me in the kitchen. I've got some more plans I'm putting together. My ground crew is preparing my airship for a long range mission. I want the planning done by the time the ship is ready to fly."

Not waiting for a response, Weiss turned and strode purposefully out of the guest room. Upon closing the door behind her, she leaned against it for a few moments, trying to sort through her emotions. With a shake of her head, she decided that any personal feelings would have to wait. She had a city, perhaps an entire kingdom, to save.

* * *

Taiyang Xiao Long was willing to admit that he was completely and absolutely exhausted. He was also in considerable pain. However, his exhaustion was foremost in his mind. He looked towards both Winter Schnee and Raven Branwen and realized that they had pretty much reached the end, as well. All around them, Mistralean soldiers slumped in fatigue. Upon receiving commands, they heaved themselves to their feet and started to trudge up and over the rubble that had once been a section of the city wall.

It could have been much worse.

They had held. The grimm horde had focused on the breach in the wall, which meant that the defenders simply had to pour fire into the gap. A handful of the dark creatures had forced their way past the fusillade, to be met by Tai, Raven and Winter. It had been a close thing; the three defenders had taken more than a few hits, but it had been decided when the two remaining, improvised armored cars had trundled all the way around the wall from one of the gates and taken up position directly outside of the breach. The weary Mistraleans had rallied, scrambling up and over the ruble and firing the last of their dust at the last of the grimm. Now it was a race to see what happened next: would the White Fang rally and managed another assault, would more grimm swarm, or would the Mistraleans manage to rearm, resupply and rest?

"Another dust shipment is going to show up in an hour or so," Colonel Arvaken told the three. While the commander hadn't been in the middle of the fighting, several hours of making rapid decisions, in which men under his command died no matter his course of action, was playing havoc on him, as well.

"I doubt the White Fang will be able to muster another assault for a few days," Raven informed him. "A tribal organization takes longer to reorganize than a military organization such as yours."

"I hope you're right," he took a seat on a piece of the broken wall. "I've stationed the freshest troops I have, who are only tired, around the gap. The rest I've sent back to their barracks to rest, clean up and get a hot meal. I'm getting the casualty reports as we speak." He flinched at this. Tai knew they were going to be bad. "I'll reorganize while they sleep."

"You've taken heavy casualties, but you completed your mission, sir." Winter offered. "Kuchinashi is safe and the enemy have taken much worse than you have. It will take them longer to prepare another assault than it will take you to prepare your defense."

"Let's hope that we aren't playing into their hands," the colonel grumbled. "For now, I need the three of you to hit the racks; I'll need you soon. Get cleaned up, have the medics look at your injuries, get some hot food and get some rest...in no particular order."

"You won't need assistance here?" Winter asked.

"Like you said, the other side is hurting, as well. I'll be good for a few hours. In the meantime, I have some civilian volunteers, most of them stonemasons or bricklayers, ready to clear this rubble and build a temporary patch. We're not in the clear yet, and I'll need the three of you in top form when the other side comes back."

"If you don't mind," Taiyang's tone let the colonel know that the teacher didn't care if he minded or not. "I'm going to check on my daughter before seeing to myself."

"You won't be able to sleep until you do, will you?" The colonel asked. Noting Tai's head shake, the officer waved him off.

"I'll join you," Raven offered.

Taiyang was puzzled, but adjusted his pace to meet hers. Actually, she adjusted her pace; his wounded leg didn't allow him to move very fast when there wasn't a very good reason to subject himself to pain. This seemed to run against her nature, that the strong thrived upon the weak, but he chose to not say anything. She wanted to discuss something and he wasn't about to force the issue.

"I spoke to Yang," she finally told him, once they left bystanders behind them. Around them was frantic activity, as civilian volunteers and government officials struggled to set the city to rights. In such bedlam, it was unlikely that anyone would overhear them.

Tai just looked at her.

"She's mad at me," Raven continued. "Wondering how I could have left her...and you. You were there when we arrived and heard what she thought of me; she claimed that I abandoned the two of you, that I left you for a life of crime...a lot of harsh accusations."

"She's not old enough to understand how complic..." Taiyang tried to speak, only for Raven to interrupt him.

"You weren't the one that gave her the words," Raven told him, a bit of surprise in her voice. "You only told her that I left. She came to the other conclusions on her own, or by speaking with my brother."

Tai didn't have a response to that.

"You might have been angry with me for leaving, you might have felt betrayed, but you never condemned me, did you?"

"No," he confirmed. "That's the role of a huntsman, to give others the freedom to choose. You chose to leave." He looked at her, no sign of a smile on his face. "I was angry about it, I still am, but the only thing worse than you leaving would have been you staying, not wanting to be there."

"I can understand that," Raven nodded. "But why didn't you press your advantage with her? You could have easily convinced her that I was the most vile human that has ever lived. Instead, you told her that our situation wasn't so easily understood. You took the risk that she may have sympathized with my point of view, even gone off to join me between the kingdoms! Why?"

"Because it's her choice to make!" He snapped back. "I wanted her to face the situation with an open mind. That's what a huntsman does; he makes it possible for others to have free will, and those others definitely include my daughters."

"I wouldn't have been like that, if the choice had been mine," she admitted. "I would have told her...what I wanted her to hear." She shook her head. "What's happening to me, Tai? I stayed here all through the battle. When the White Fang left and the grimm showed up, I should have slipped off. Instead, I stayed like some foolish rookie huntress, blinded by the tales and legends, my judgment poisoned by the lectures on honor and nobility."

"You lost your tribe," Taiyang pointed out. "Maybe you're questioning your path in life, wondering what it really gives you?"

"Of course," her eyes rolled, but they didn't flash red. "You're the educator and the headmasters' man. Of course you know you're on the right path and you're ready to pull me from the dark and wrong route I'm taking!"

"You really think that's what I'm trying to do?" Taiyang's voice almost dripped with disgust and sarcasm, something that Raven wasn't used to hearing from him. "I figured that since I'm wondering if I've been doing the right thing, maybe you are as well."

" _You_?" Raven's voice was equal parts amusement, disbelief and return sarcasm. "The golden boy, with the respectable job, who the headmasters call on when they need help? You, with the perfect home and the two girls you're so proud of? You, who wanted to be a hero from the day you stepped foot in Beacon...and probably well before that? _You_ are questioning your life?"

"What kind of a life is it?" He grumbled. "I've given _everything_ to provide for my girls, give them a home and try to make the world safe for them. When I see them, it's just 'hey dad'. When their uncle shows up, they go berserk. I asked Ruby to stay at home while Yang came out of her depression, but all it took was a couple of hints from Qrow to make her trudge all the way across Anima, bait for the other side. Since I knew that it wouldn't do any good to tell Yang to not leave; I have to be happy that she ran off to find her sister and not her mother."

Raven simply stared at him, neither sympathetic or judgmental.

"The first woman I loved left me," he continued. "The only other woman I ever loved never returned from a mission for the headmasters...and they still expect me to keep performing the missions. How much longer is it going to be before I wind up alone, far from home, and outmatched? What happens to my girls when that happens?"

"When I built my home, it was supposed to be a happy place," he sighed. "A place where I could raise my family, safe from the rest of the world. I was supposed to grow old there, surrounded by friends and family. Instead, I'm going to wind up alone there, if I ever get back. Ruby and Yang are going to be huntresses, which means I'll have a good chance of outliving them. What kind of a father outlives his daughters?"

"This isn't you, Tai," Raven told him. "You never used to feel sorry for yourself."

"Well, maybe I finally figured out that looking out for Remnant isn't worth your time when Remnant doesn't look out for you!" He snarled. "I've given everything and what do I have to show for it? One daughter in an infirmary and another missing, off on a mission somewhere. I'm thousands of kilometers from home, from my empty house, fighting the bad guys yet again, so that someone will feed me bits of news about Ruby. That doesn't seem like much of a fair trade! Isn't that what you were trying to tell me, all those years ago?"

"Yes!" She shook her head. "I knew you wouldn't listen to me at the time and I can't believe that you're saying it now!"

"People change," he grumbled. "Or maybe they finally open their eyes. I'm not ready to go try to set up some bandit tribe between the kingdoms, but I'm not going to keep doing what I am for that much longer, either."

Raven didn't know what to say to her old teammate, or if she wanted to say anything. The remainder of the trip to the infirmary was done in silence. For all his bitterness, once they reached the medical facility and found out where Yang was being treated, he was all smiles. He even stopped limping when they strode into the teen's room. There, they were confronted with bad news.

"I have a broken Femur," the blonde girl told her parents. "So I'm going to be down for a week or so, even with my aura healing me. They're going to evacuate me to Mistral City, along with Scarlet and two members of Team ARBN."

Taiyang looked horrified at the prospect of his daughter being away from him.

"She is vulnerable here," Raven pointed out to her daughter's father. "Mistral City is secure, at least for now. She can heal safely there."

"I hate to agree with her," Yang gave Raven a hard look, then returned her attention to her father. "But she's right. Besides, Neptune gave me...some contacts...to help me keep an eye out for Ruby. You can watch for her here, I'll watch for her there."

"I just don't like being away from my girls when they need me," he complained.

"Dad, you pulled me out when I lost my arm," she rested her left and on his. "This is just healing up from an injury, I'll be fine."

She then looked him up and down. "I don't know if you realize it, but you're just about dead on your feet. Go get some sleep."

"She's right again," Raven told him. "We both need our rest."

"Just be sure to let me know when you're leaving," he told her. "I want to see you again before you leave."

"I'll do that," she promised. "Now please, go take care of yourself."

Taiyang kissed his daughter on the forehead, a gesture she accepted with graceful tolerance, even though she loved the little gesture. He turned and walked out of the hospital room. Raven gave Yang a searching look before following the man out. Catching up to him was not a problem; once out of Yang's sight, his limp returned.

"You must have done something right when you raised her," she muttered to him.

"What do you mean?"

"Yang is willing to wade through fire for...Ruby," She pointed out. "Even wounded, she's worried about her sister and you. I'm willing to bet that the little girl is the same way."

"We're family," he shrugged.

"Like me and Qrow," she murmured. "But we can't spend five minutes in the same room without trading insults or threats. He's warned Yang that I'm dangerous..."

"You are," Tai pointed out.

"He's told her it's best to stay away from me, even though he gave her a method of reaching me, if she chose to do so," Raven continued, ignoring his comment. "Just like you, he gives her the freedom of choice, even if she may choose a path he doesn't approve of."

Taiyang could only look at her.

"I'm not ready to live your life," she told him. "Just as you aren't ready to live mine, but there's something to be said for you. Qrow and I have a great deal of antipathy towards each other. Your daughters will risk their lives for each other."

"That's what siblings do," Taiyang shrugged.

"Most siblings," she corrected. "Look and you and Qrow; you don't exactly like each other all that much, but the two of you will sacrifice for each other without a second thought."

For a short time, they simply walked along in silence.

"You're complaining about your life," she finally pointed out, when it became obvious that he wasn't about to speak. "But before you throw a wrench in the works, remember that your daughters will go through anything for each other. Yang has a fractured leg but is still concerned about you getting some rest. I can't even get along with my own twin. Your life isn't perfect, but you sure must be doing something right."

* * *

Pain; mixed with difficulty breathing, woke her up. Ruby had never been known for restraint, so she reacted by trying to jump to her feet. She should have known better. She only proved to herself that her hands were securely tied behind her, her feet tied together, and some sort of restraint attached her to a tree. Looking up, she saw Neo smirking at her. Now remembering the desperate struggle...that she had lost...she looked around to get her bearings.

Torchwick's bunch must have dragged them back to their camp. The fire had been built back up and the sun was getting close to the western horizon. Looking around the camp, she saw her three companions. All three were also restrained and, as she noticed about herself, gagged. Ruby's eyes flew wide when she noted that one of Nora's legs was bent in a direction that it wasn't meant to be. All three were awake and Ruby could see that Nora was struggling to hold back tears, to not let anyone know how much pain she was in.

"My ship should be showing up within the hour," Mercury's voice announced. Ruby craned both her neck and her eyes to her right, managing to spot him, Torchwick and Emerald walking into the camp from the woods. "I'll take Ruby with me. Cinder's more than interested in getting her hands...er...hand on the girl and give whatever is left to Salem."

"Nice try, kid," Roman told him. "I caught this bunch, and I'll be the one turning over the ones that are worth anything...and getting the rewards, thank you very much."

"Roman..." Mercury set himself in a fighting stance.

"Kid, you're in no position to fight it out with me," Torchwick's voice was calm and reasonable. "I've got the advantage here and you can tell Cinder that. Feel free to tell her everything. The simple fact is, I've done everything she's asked of me and it's time that she pays up a little more if she wants something else. I'll put my demands on your scroll, so you don't need to wet yourself when it's time to tell her."

"I know that Cinder and her boss want their hands on Little Red. That means she's valuable and that means they can pay up a little more. There's also some interest in the blonde boy and if I get what I want from Cinder, I'll throw him in for free."

"So what now?" Emerald asked.

"Now, we get some information from her," Roman nodded to Neo and pointed at Ruby. Smiling, the small woman sliced Ruby's gag.

Ruby gasped for breath, only now realizing that her nose must have been broken, inhibiting her breathing to some extent.

"Well, now, Little Red," Torchwick strolled nonchalantly in her direction, twirling his cane on one finger. "It seems that no matter where I go, you seem to show up. Now, I could complain about your stalking or showing some kind of obsession over me, but the age difference would make that right down creepy, wouldn't it? Instead, why don't you just tell me how and why you've been on my backside?"

Ruby set her jaw and glared at him.

"Why do these kids always insist on wasting so much time?" He murmured to the sky. He placed the tip of his cane under her chin and forced her head up. "Red, I'm not a patient man and I'm very good at inflicting pain. Now, why don't you just start talking before we all have to go through some unpleasant times?"

Ruby jerked her head to one side, refusing to meet his eyes.

"They always insist on doing things the hard way," he sighed. "Just remember Red, you're the one who decided to do things this way." He turned and walked away from her, towards her companions, now using the cane as a walking stick.

"Roman, if you're going to off them anyway, just do it," Emerald growled at him. "Why the games and the pain?"

"For someone who lived on the streets, you sure don't seem to think very far ahead!" He snapped at her. "Maybe that's why Cinder found you still shoplifting, even though you could have been so much more." He sighed again. "Watch and learn, little girl."

"Let's repeat the question," he announced, taking up a position between Nora and Jaune. "Red, who were you working for when you were following us?"

Still, Ruby wouldn't speak.

"No, Neo," Roman held up a hand. It was only now that Ruby realized that the small woman had glided up next to her. "Let's not get too hasty with Little Red, she's a valuable commodity." The orange-haired man suddenly placed the tip of his cane on the break point on Nora's leg. He made a show of putting some pressure on the injured limb, causing Nora to shriek through her gag.

"Let's try this one more time," he suggested.

"We weren't working for anyone!" Ruby blurted out, trying to think quickly. "We saw you in Mistral and decided you must be behind the dust shortage, just like you were in Vale! We followed you, trying to see what you were up to."

"Mercury," Roman prompted.

Ruby looked in horror as the communication device tumbled into her field of vision.

"You see Red, you're forcing me to do this," Roman announced, now leaning on Nora's injury. The ginger girl screamed and writhed, unable to break free.

"Stop it!" Ruby screamed at him. "I'll tell you everything!"

Roman didn't take the weight off of Nora immediately, pausing to glare at Ruby. Finally, he removed the cane from the girl's leg and approached his subject.

"No more lies!" He roared, tapping her head with the cane. "Who are you working for?"

"Someone from Atlas!" It tore Ruby up inside to say it...but if she didn't? "An Atlesian officer saw us in Mistral and recognized us from Beacon. She planted tracking devices on the bombs and had us follow them."

"Follow them?" He sneered. "I think you're leaving something out!" He strode back towards Nora.

"She had us follow them because she didn't know what they were!" Ruby yelled at him. "We were in the swamps before she let us know that they were massive bombs!"

"And how did she learn that?" He demanded.

"I don't know!" Ruby told him. When he turned towards Nora again, she quickly added. "She didn't tell us everything!"

"Obviously!" He sneered. "How did she let you know they were bombs?"

"With that!" Ruby used her head to gesture towards the communicator.

"How does it work?" Roman demanded.

"It connects to a scroll," she admitted, looking down to avoid her teammates' faces. "We have a petition on one of ours that activates it. You have to extend a wire as an antenna."

"Who's scroll?" Roman demanded.

"Jaune's," Ruby admitted, after hesitating for a moment.

"I've got it," Emerald announced. Roman watched her rifle through the boy's pockets and produce the scroll. She poked at the device while delivering it to the head criminal.

"We don't know if it still works," Ruby added. "Ever since the bomb went off, we haven't gotten a response."

"It appears to feed a text message to an output port," Emerald reported, handing the device to Roman.

"And the petition recorded the messages, both ways," he added. "Oh boy! It looks like this Atlesian officer wasn't too happy with you when I gave you the slip back on Gozadasi! By the way, Red, who was this officer?"

"If I tell you, you have to tell me something!" She snarled, trying for some little piece of defiance.

"YOU are not in any position to make demands of me!" He snarled, holding his cane over Nora's leg again.

"I just want to know how you survived," Ruby quickly blurted, hoping that his ego would prompt him to go into a bragging rant.

"Why, Little Red," he declared. "I didn't know you cared! What you mean to say, was how did I survive being swallowed by a gryphon?"

Ruby just nodded.

"Who ever said that I did?" He smirked at her. "Red, you must have been sleeping through your classes. Didn't your teachers say that grimm don't have to eat...they just seem to feast on humans and faunas...for the heck of it?"

Ruby didn't trust herself to speak.

"Ah, well, it turns out that grimm don't have digestive systems. They have stomachs...I can personally attest to that...but they don't digest." His voice grew louder and more angry as he continued. "They have snug little stomachs...hot, cramped painful stomachs."

He turned his back to her, pausing for dramatic effect.

"That gullet though, it squeezed me and crushed me," he growled. "And oh, all the things I was dreaming I'd do to you for putting me there, knowing I'd never get the chance. Then the darn thing jumped and hit something. Come to think of it, I never figured out what happened, so maybe you can fill me in on that!" He glared at her over his shoulder.

"It attacked me and I dodged," she sort-of-lied. "It went right through the windows into the ship, then things started to explode."

He stared at her for a moment. "I guess that makes sense," he grumbled, after a moment. "Cause there was a lot of fire when it dissolved around me." He snorted out humorless laughter. "Now, here's a little pop quiz, kiddies, what attracts the grimm?"

When Ruby didn't answer, he placed the tip of his cane on Nora's leg again.

"Negative emotions!" Ruby screamed. "Hate, fear...that sort of thing!"

"Correct!" Roman snapped. "Did you ever think of just how much being in a grimm's stomach can generate negative emotions? Did you ever think of how the grimm that had you in it's stomach would act when you were generating the hate that was calling to it? Did you ever think that the black fog that grimm turn into when they die might still be attracted to that emotion? No? Well, you're gonna get your little brain melted with this! When you're in a grimm, madder than a Schnee at a union organizing event, and that grimm gets killed, the fog is pulled right at you!" You suck it in when you try to breath!"

"Oh, I was sucking in air!" He continued to rant, now pacing back and forth in front of Ruby. "Or I should say, I was trying to. The fires on the bridge meant that there wasn't anything except the fog to breathe! I didn't survive, Red! The last thing I remembered was wondering if I'd suffocate or if the collision would kill me!"

"I sort of pieced together what happened next," his voice was now much more reasonable, but Ruby knew that it was just an act. He would fly into a rage whenever he felt like it. "It seems that, lucky me, the collision threw me clear...so it was suffocation that got me...and maybe a little impact, as well. Fortunately for me, my lovely little associate here found me, and she knows CPR."

Neo traced an exquisite bow.

"So, she brought me back," Torchwick twirled his cane so it came to rest on his shoulder. "But you see, I had my lungs full of grimm fog, a fog that really liked me, while I was dead. When I came back to this side, something came along for the ride!"

With a flamboyant pirouette, the shed his overcoat and unbuttoned his shirt, when he faced Ruby again, his chest was bare to the world. Ruby's eyes flew wide; his torso was, for the most part, even more pale than his face. From his center mass, several veins of jet black radiated outward; she could see that two such veins zigzagged to his shoulders and two more vanished under his trousers, looking like they were on course for his hips. Another meandered down the center of his slender chest, darkening it except for a bit over his sternum, which was stark white where it appeared a bony spur emerged from the flesh.

"It's growing, Red!" he barked into the now dark forest. "The dark parts and the boney bit are getting bigger! When it first showed up, I was ready to hunt you down and kill you. Then, I honestly didn't know if I should off you or thank you for giving this to me. Instead, I think I'll negotiate the best price I can come up with and sell you to Cinder. That way, I don't have to worry about it!"

* * *

Weiss nodded her approval when Ron, still looking somewhat listless but better than he had in his room, walked into the kitchen, his pack slung over one shoulder. His tonfa were on their magnetic holders at his hips and a strange wristband, looking a little like one of Yang's weapons, was around one lower arm. He was clean now, and wearing fresh clothing. However, he wasn't...Ron...at least not yet. He made no move to help Kline with the cooking, but simply grabbed a plate and put a little food on it. He sat with Neon and Flynt at the informal table, sharing a nod with the two and shoving the food around the plate. While they clearly realized that something was wrong, they chose not to delve into the issue at this time.

"Okay," Weiss called the impromptu meeting to order. "My mechanics will have the airship ready to fly again within the hour. In the meantime, here's the situation."

"First of all, we suspect that one of these bombs went off in or around the town of BatiKiyisi, most likely inflicting severe damage on the Atlesian Air Fleet," she continued, adopting a tone she had used in numerous board meetings. "We seized and disabled another such bomb at sea, yesterday. We believe that there is one more, somewhere in Mistral City. Our goal is to find it and neutralize it. All other actions are subordinate to accomplishing this goal."

"We have secondary objectives," she informed them. "The first is to determine the fate of the air fleet and the second is to assess the damage to BatiKiyisi. However, and I cannot stress this enough, our overriding goal is to locate and neutralize the bomb we believe to be in Mistral City itself."

"Okay, what do we do when we reach Mistral?" Neon asked. "Relations have thawed, but Mistral is still probably suspicious about Atlas. Are the four of us going to go to the council, or maybe the headmaster, and demand that they take us to the bomb?"

"That brings up another point," Flynt chimed in. "We don't know where the bomb is at. All intel on it comes here, to Atlas. Isn't it better to chill here, ready to roll, until we find out what's going on?"

"Good points," Weiss nodded. "For the first, we are officially a business flight for the Schnee Dust Company, making sure that our products are being distributed properly. In reality, I'm working hand-in-hand with the Atlesian Government. Not only will the military forward us intelligence on Mistral and these devices, as soon as they get it, we will have credentials to present to the Mistralean Customs Officials. Hopefully, this will secure some cooperation. Finally, I am having my second dirigible set course towards Anima to take up station above the pass between BatiKiyisi and Soguk Su. This will enhance communications between ourselves and the Atlas intelligence apparatus."

"A dirigible doesn't move as fast as an airship," Flynt pointed out. "Is your big balloon going to get there in time to do us any good?"

"I have no way of knowing," she admitted. "This mission may be over in a couple of days or it may take weeks. I'd rather move the assets into place, uselessly, than need them and not have them."

"It's your balance sheet," he shrugged. "But it makes sense to me."

"What about the radiation in BatiKiyisi?" Ron asked. "We have no way of knowing if we're in danger."

"My engineering specialist has made contact with Dr. Physiker," Weiss told him. "She's uploading the petition as we speak. It may take a bit, but it should be on the mansion's mainframe within the next several minutes. We'll all download the petition before we leave."

"What about disassembling the bomb?" Flynt asked. "We got lucky last time; Ron was there with a strong, sharp blade and that super-strength semblance of his. Neon and I don't carry blades and I don't think that any of us could cut open a steel bomb case even if we did. What if one of us finds ourselves by the bomb with Ron not available?"

"Good point," Weiss thought for a few moments, then started poking at her scroll. "I'm having one of the staff contact some contractors and contractor supply companies. I'll purchase some portable tools, capable of cutting steel."

"I think I can help some more on this mission," Neon chimed in. "Faunas tend to open up to each other. When we get to Mistral City, let me head out and mingle a little. If the White Fang helped move the bomb into place, I might be able to learn more on my own."

"Good idea," Weiss nodded. "Any other suggestions?"

"I might be able to talk to some of the street musicians," Flynt shrugged. "Performers hear bits of news all over the place."

A chime on Wiess' scroll informed her that Dr. Physiker's petition was now available. All four teens loaded it and reviewed the instructions. Half an hour later, a Schnee assistant delivered three large, dust-powered circular saws. With that, Weiss hurried off to say goodbye to her mother, once again. There were tears in her eyes when the airship landed on the front lawn and lifted off with the team aboard. What would become of her mother if she failed to return from this mission?

As the mansion fell away beneath her, she wondered if she met her fate in a less than heroic manner. What if the aircraft had a malfunction and they went down at sea? What if they ran afoul of the Mistralean underworld while hunting leads and vanished? At what point would her mother realize that she was gone and move on? Suddenly, Weiss felt an even closer connection to Ron. She found the young man, strapped into one of the passenger seats and simply staring at the opposite wall. Without speaking, she sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. No words were shared; none were needed. They simply took some comfort in shared sorrow.

* * *

Ruby could only take some solace in the fact that she wasn't the only one caught off guard by Roman's revelation. She managed to tear her eyes off of the...hybrid...for a few moments to look around. Neo wore the same smile that she always seemed to sport. Mercury looked repulsed while Emerald looked horrified. Nora was writhing limply on the ground, in her agony she wasn't showing a great deal of reaction to Torchwick's condition. Jaune and Ren seemed more concerned with Nora than Torchwick's condition. Of course, Roman basked in the shock he had caused. Ruby didn't care, it gave her a chance to rack her brain, desperate to find some way out of the predicament.

Unfortunately, there was a limit to how much stoking even Torchwick's ego demanded. Smirking at the captives, he pulled his shirt and coat back on, then returned to Nora, setting his cane disturbingly close to her injury.

"Now then," he addressed Ruby. "I was kind enough to tell you what you wanted to hear. It's time to pay up. Who put you on my trail?"

Before Ruby could answer, a soft hiss sounded from above. Looking up, she saw a shadow pass over the stars.

"Ah, Mercury's ride," Roman announced. "Okay kid, I'm putting you on the airship personally. I want you to know exactly what I'm demanding from Cinder before I turn over Red and Blondie. Emerald, Neo, I'd like the other two taken care of before I get back." He strode towards the road, Mercury right behind him, while Ruby screamed her protest at him.

"Shut her up!" He snapped, pointing towards the young captive. Neo's smile turned cruel. The small woman seized Ruby's hair, forced her head back and jammed the gag back in her mouth.

"I didn't sign on for this," Emerald growled, then stormed away from the camp.

"Whatever," Torchwick sighed. "Neo, just deal with this. The airship will pick up Mercury from the road, and I have a few last details to go over with him. Clean this up while I'm gone."

Neo traced another mocking bow and waited while the two men left. She pirouetted around the clearing, winking at the furiously struggling teens for a few minutes. Suddenly, Ruby felt the rope around her wrists fall apart.

"Keep quiet!" Emerald's voice hissed into her ear. "She thinks you're still tied up, but if you make any noise, she'll know something's up!" Crescent Rose thumped into her hand.

Ruby watched, not quite believing, as Neo continued her mocking dance around the campsite. Ruby carefully and quietly unfolded her weapon and used one of the blades to cut the rope that bound her feet, then the rope that tied her to the tree. Emerald moved slowly, one hand on her temple and never taking her eyes from Neo. She whispered something to Ren before cutting his hands free and placing Stormflower on his lap. The young man used the weapons to release his legs as Emerald slid towards Jaune.

Ruby returned her attention to Neo while unfastening the gag. Opening her mouth wide to take in more air, silently, she listed to the sounds the airship was making. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted Emerald release Jaune's hands and set Crocea Mors nearby, before slowly backing off into the woods.

Over the road, the airships engines revved up, lifting the aircraft into the sky. Neo's innocent smile suddenly turned cruel. She pulled her slender rapier from the umbrella and glided towards Nora...

Only to dodge at the last moment when Ren attacked.

Despite being caught by surprise, Neo somehow sidestepped and ducked at the same time, allowing both of Ren's slashes to miss. He barely managed to get one of his blades up fast enough to block a kick, then parry a thrust. Neo spun with impossible grace and speed to land a back kick to his jaw, sending him staggering back. Before she could press the attack, Ruby was on her, coming on with a spinning attack that forced her to dodge, allowing Ren to regain his balance. Before he could return to the fight, Neo managed to slip inside Crescent Rose's arc, redirect it just enough to avoid a hit and kick Ruby's knee. Ruby stumbled back but Ren was once again on the attack before Neo could take advantage of the younger girl being off balance.

Neo leaned back to avoid one slash, gracefully redirected a second and drove a knee into Ren's belly. With lightning reflexes, she spun to face Jaune but the blonde still caught her by surprise. He neither thrust nor slashed with his sword; he simply held up his shield and plowed into the diminutive assassin. Neo was overborne but she reacted quickly, dropping to her back and getting her legs between herself and the blonde boy's shield. Jaune was sent tumbling over her but he managed a tuck-and-roll and regained his feet. More importantly, he had provided the example.

Ruby was back in the game before Neo could make a move against Jaune. This time, as she twirled her scythe, she kept a close eye on Neo's reactions. When the small woman deftly guided Crescent Rose out of its path, Ruby released the weapon and seized Neo's weapon-arm by the wrist. She took first a punch and then a knee to the back. In pain, she hung on for all that she was worth. Neo flipped the slender blade out of her hand, caught it in the other and lined it up for a killing blow...

Only to see it blocked by Stormflower. Ren locked the rapier with his weapon, parried a kick with the other, and drove his knee into Neo's back. Ruby smiled with horrible glee when she saw the mismatched eyes fly wide with pain and surprise. Ren lined up his elbow for a shot to the woman's face, but Neo was far from out of the fight. With her unbelievable grace and speed, she performed a back-flip, tearing her arm out of Ruby's grip and knocking Ren off of his feet. The young man managed to keep the rapier trapped between Stormflower's blade and hilt, but Neo was pulling the weapon free when Jaune plowed into her again.

This time, the blonde didn't bother with his shield; he drove a shoulder into her hips and forced her to the ground, wrapping his arms around her legs. Neo released her sword and landed two punches to Jaune's head. The blonde was staggered, but maintained his grip while Ren abandoned one of his weapons and used his free hand, as well as his body weight, to pin her arm to the ground. She got in a shot to his kidney with her last, free limb. Ren grimaced but pinned that wrist with one foot. After seeing Nora tortured, he was in no mood for mercy. The usual calm young man slashed with his remaining weapon. By the time Ruby had recovered Crescent Rose, Neo's aura sparked and failed.

"Hold on!" An angry voice roared.

Ruby felt a savage tug on one foot, pulling her off of her feet. Angry and humiliated, she struggled against he crook of Roman's cane as, like beneath Mountain Glenn, he reeled her in. Before she could get back up, his foot was on her chest and the barrel of the cane was under her chin. She could only grind her teeth in humiliation; she was just a hostage.

"Well, well, well," Torchwick seemed to have regained his composure. "I leave you kids alone for a few minutes and this is what happens? Where's Emerald?"

Silence was his only answer.

"I asked a question and I demand an answer!" He roared. "If I don't get one, Little Red's lovely face is going to be splattered all over this forest! Now, where is Emerald?"

"She left," Jaune answered. "I don't know where to, she just slipped off."

"Ah," he shook his head. "She never was all dedicated to the cause."

"And you are?" Ruby demanded.

"Of course!" He roared again. "My cause is my own survival! Now, release Neo before I splatter Little Red's pretty little face all over the forest!"

"I don't think so," Jaune snapped back. "The minute we let her go, you'll kill Ruby anyway!"

"So I guess that means we have a standoff," he declared.

The man leaned casually, and for Ruby painfully, on his cane. Seeing this, Ren set Stormflower's point to Neo's eye. The small woman prudently stopped struggling.

"Do you have any suggestions to resolve this little conflict?" Roman sneered at the two younger men.

"I do," another voice announced.

Ruby had only a moment to look towards Nora before the wounded girl fired her last grenade. Caught by surprise, Roman took the round directly to his chest. The concussion sent Torchwick sprawling and hammered at Ruby. Still, she managed to scramble to her feet and lurch towards Crescent Rose, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs. She picked up her scythe and faced off against the criminal, who was staggering to his feet.

Unfortunately, the explosion had caught both Jaune and Ren by surprise. Neo took her chance, wrenching a leg free and kneeing Jaune in the chin. She snapped her head to one side, taking a deep cut under one eye, and sunk her teeth into Ren's hand. Jaune tried to recapture her legs, but only managed to take a double kick while Neo swatted at Ren's weapon. Stormflower's point punched completely through her palm, but she showed no sign of pain. She head-butted the brunette boy, making him flinch, and thrashed out of their hold. Ren recovered long enough to open a deep cut on her shoulder, but she was free, tumbling towards Torchwick. Realizing that she had escaped, Ruby, Ren and Jaune picked up their weapons and took up positions between the crooks and Nora.

"Well...it appears...we're back at a standoff," Roman's words were slurred as he addressed the team. "Do we really want to fight this out to the...conclusion?"

"I'll take Neo," Ruby muttered to her two teammates. "I can keep her busy while the two of you handle Torchwick. Finish him then help me out." She took an unsteady step towards her quarry.

"That might not be a great idea, Red," he snarled back, lining up his cane on Nora. "You don't know how...many shots I have. Can your blonde sidekick block them all? Can you get to me in time? Maybe we should talk this one out!"

"You're bluffing!" Ruby snarled at him.

"Am I?" He took aim at a point between him and the teens and fired a round. It burst into flame, making Ruby back off. Roman lined up on Nora again.

Stalemate.

For a couple of minutes, Team RNJR and the two crooks stared at each other. Suddenly, Ruby had a horrible suspicion.

She only had a couple of rounds left, but she fired one at the two. They made no effort to dodge and they seemed to shatter like glass when it hit.

"Dust!" She swore, activating her semblance and rushing towards the road.

Unfortunately, her balance was off and she tumbled out of control. She struggled back to her feet, spitting leaves and dirt, and tried again. She still couldn't stay upright after the grenade had rang her bell. A car started in the distance, so she sprinted that way without her semblance, ignoring the shouts from behind her. It was only a short run through the forest, but by the time she reached the road, there was only a quiet engine noise, fading to the northwest.

Ruby dropped to her knees in defeat, screaming her anger, frustration and sorrow into the night. A comforting hand came to rest on her shoulder.

"Ruby," Jaune dropped to his knees next to her. "I know it's bad, but we can't worry about them getting away right now."

"You don't understand!" She wailed. "Mercury thought we were captives! He thought we were harmless! Torchwick will let Cinder know that we've escaped and we know that one of the bombs is in Mistral! She'll either move it or use it!"

"I know," his voice was grim. "But we can't do anything about it. Right now, we have to move Nora."

"Why?" Ruby was confused.

"Because we just had a very nasty fight here and she can't walk," Jaune told her. "Grimm are going to be attracted, so we have to move."

"She needs a doctor," Ruby pointed out.

"So we get to the road and head towards Soguk Su," he told her. "Hopefully, we can catch a ride with someone and get her to the help she needs."

"But...what if we can't?" Ruby sobbed. "What about the people in BatiKiyisi? What about Mistral?"

"We can't do anything for them right now," he swallowed hard. "The best we can do is get to Soguk Su, as fast as we can, so we can spread the word about what happened...and what might."

Ruby could only nod, defeated by the fact that there wasn't something...heroic...that she could do to make the situation work out. Jaune got to his feet and offered her a hand up, which she took.

"It's looking bad," he admitted, his hand dropping on her shoulder again. "But we can only do the best we can and hope to have a chance to make things better."

On an impulse, she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. After a moment's hesitation, she felt his arms settle around her shoulders and give her a gentle hug. For some reason, it didn't seem quite so horrible any more. She managed to compose herself and the two of them hurried back to the camp, where Ren was tending to Nora.

They didn't know how much time they had, so they moved as fast as they could. They cut some splints to immobilize Nora's injury and rigged a stretcher. Then they gathered their possessions...Torchwick's bunch hadn't been neat and tidy when rifling through them. Finally, Jaune helped Ruby carry Nora while Ren kept his weapons ready. All four were exhausted, but they forced themselves to reach the road and then put in a couple of kilometers, hoping to avoid any grimm. Fortunately, they reached their new campsite with no further incidents. It was while they were gathering firewood, using their scrolls as flashlights, that Jaune made the discovery.

"Hey, Emerald must have slipped my scroll back into my pocket," he announced, upon finding the device. "And she recorded something on it."

"Let's get the fire going before listening," Ren suggested. "I am more concerned about seeing to Nora than to hearing anything Emerald has to say to us."

Soon, a cheery fire was burning and some simple food was cooking. The team also had some simple medicines; painkillers and anti-inflamatories that they gave Nora before having a short meeting.

"She needs a proper doctor," Ren told his companions. "The fracture was bad enough before Torchwick used it to torture her. There's no telling how badly she had been injured."

"So we stay on the road and hope to catch a ride," Ruby suggested. "Two of us can carry her while the other runs on ahead to try to find help."

"Wrong," Nora told them, from her resting place by the fire.

Her three teammates just looked at her.

"You're probably thinking of walking night and day to get me to a hospital," she grumbled. "Or maybe splitting up so someone can try to find help. We all know that isn't going to work. If you split up, Torchwick and Neo will be able to handle whoever goes off alone. If you walk day and night, you'll only exhaust yourselves and won't make much better time." Her voice caught a bit. "I know that the only hope I have of keeping this leg is to get to a hospital, but I'll be worse off if you three kill yourselves trying to get me there."

The three looked at each other a little sheepishly.

"Now that that little bit of idiocy is out of the way, let's hear what Emerald had to say."

Jaune shrugged and pulled out his scroll. Once everyone was gathered around the fire, the activated the file.

"There isn't much time to tell you this," Emerald's whispered voice told them. "So let me tell you why I'm doing this. It's gone too far. It was one thing to steal dust and take the Fall Maiden's powers. When they attacked Beacon and Vale, it was bad enough but now they're talking about wiping out entire kingdoms! I'm not going to be part of that! If the kingdoms are gone, what's going to happen to the rest of us?"

On the screen, her eyes twitched and in the background, Torchwick could be heard ranting. "I've learned where Torchwick stashed the bomb he left in Mistral," she continued. "There's a theater on Gosterisli Street known as The Forgotten Evening. He paid off the stagehands to store it in a basement. They think it's a drug shipment for some underworld crime boss, so they won't mess with it. There may be some sort of anti-tampering mechanism that will set it off if the crate is opened...I can't be sure."

"Don't try to follow or find me," her voice now had a tone of finality. "It's all up to you; if you want to be heroes, go ahead. I'm going to find someplace to hide." The recording came to an abrupt end.

For several minutes, Team RNJR looked at each other, each trying to come up with something to say.

"So now we know where the bomb might be, but there's probably no way we can get to it before Torchwick can either get to it or let someone know that we've escaped," Nora grumbled. "And our communication device is off line, so we can't let Winter know where it is."

"We also know that Emerald is just as manipulative as she's ever been," Ren grumbled.

"But she let us go!" Ruby protested. "That was something good, wasn't it?"

"But she didn't help us with Neo," Jaune pointed out, suddenly nodding at Ren. He barked a humorless laugh. "She used us to keep Torchwick and Neo busy while she got away. No matter which side won, she would have the delay she needed. I wouldn't be surprised if Roman has a 'don't follow me' file on his scroll, as well."

"Well, there's no help for it," Nora declared. "If you think you can make better time without me holding you back..."

"No!" Jaune snapped. "We stay together. We just have to hope that we can pick up a ride and somehow beat Torchwick to Mistral."

"Okay, then let's set the watch and get some sleep," Nora decided for the group.

To her teammates' surprise, Nora insisted on being included in the watch, stating that she could sit and listen as well as they. Exhausted, Ruby was in no mood to argue about getting more sleep. It was during her watch, shortly before dawn, that her scroll chimed, informing her that a contact had just come in to local range. Opening the device to see who it was, her silver eyes flew wide.

* * *

 _A/N: As always, big thanks to my ever-patient beta, Joe Stoppinghem._


	27. Chapter 27

Weiss awoke startled, a fading dream of her mother sorrowing and weeping over the loss of her daughters,a vague memory. Shivering slightly, she quickly placed herself in her airship's small passenger compartment, sitting next to Ron and with her head resting on his shoulder. She first tried to sit up and break contact with him, feeling heat rushing to her face, but realized that when she did, he began to grumble in his sleep. Resting fully against him again seemed to calm him. She was glad of this, as he needed some rest. Instead of getting up, she examined the compartment.

Neon and Flynt were sitting in the compartment's other two seats, pretty much out of it as well. Thinking about it for a few minutes, Weiss decided that this was a good thing. Everyone had been on a hectic schedule the last couple of days, so any rest was more valuable than dust. The two weren't as...close...as she and Ron were, but they were clearly comfortable with each other. For a few minutes, the heiress simply sat quietly, relaxed in the atmosphere of true friends around her. Unfortunately, she had been maintaining a healthy hydration schedule and needed to get up, whether Ron was disturbed or not. Making it quick, she quickly stood.

Ron grumbled a little more, but didn't wake up. The sudden move woke Neon, who opened her eyes halfway, noted what was taking place, and closed them again. Stretching as best she could in the compartment's limited interior, Weiss made her way forward into the next compartment. This was a sustainment compartment, with a sanitary facility and a kitchenette. After making use of the sanitary facility, she decided to walk farther forward, first through the flight crew's cramped quarters and towards the cockpit itself. She smiled at the sign, which insisted that only authorized personnel could enter this most forward compartment. Anyone who was on the aircraft was, by definition, authorized, but she supposed that some routines were so ingrained that they weren't worth the effort to try to break.

The flight crew, a man and a woman both about fifteen years older than her, sat up just a bit straighter when she stepped into the cockpit.

"Miss Schnee," the woman, the pilot, offered her a quick nod. Weiss approved of the abbreviated acknowledgment. The flight crew's attention was best kept on the task at hand.

"What's our current status?" Weiss asked.

"We're about an hour out of Soguk Su," she answered. "We're using the communication dirigible as a navigation beacon and it confirms our location. We should cross the pass shortly before dawn and reach BatiKiyisi at full dawn."

Weiss recognized the unspoken comment; they would adjust their plans, as needed, upon observing the town.

"Very well," she nodded. "Inform me if anything comes up."

Weiss immediately felt foolish for saying this; of course they would let her know. Shaking her head at her own lapse, she retraced her earlier steps, passing through the sustainment compartment to stand at the back of the passenger compartment. She opened the back hatch, flinching at the engine noise that this allowed into the passenger compartment, and quickly stepped through and closed the hatch behind her. She was in a very short, narrow passageway, leading to the cargo compartment. Pulling a set of earplugs out of a bin, she opened the rear hatch to the passageway and stepped into the noisy space that carried the team's possessions.

When the ground crew performed maintenance after their mission to intercept the bomb at sea, she instructed them to configure the aircraft for a long-range, extended mission. To do so, they converted part of the passenger area to cargo. The extended cargo area now had only minimal climate controls, so it was noisy, chilly...but taxed the aircraft's systems less, allowing it to fly farther even though it was carrying more weight. Weiss pulled up the inventory on her scroll, looking over the tools, personal items and other kit they were bringing with them. She felt a certain sense of melancholy, knowing that this represented the fact they they could be on this mission for several weeks. However, she felt resolve, as well. She and her team were doing something, even if they had to put their lives on hold for now. For what seemed like a long time, she reviewed what they had brought, trying to think of anything that they could need, but didn't have with them. They had camping equipment, in case the mission took them between the kingdoms; and they had formal attire, in case they needed to deal with the Mistralean upper classes. They had communications equipment, much like Team Juvenile had used before the BatiKiyisi bomb went off, in case the mission took them outside the area covered by the Haven Tower. They had spare ammunition and other dust, tools, lien, medicines and other items. Shaking her head at the effort and resources needed to keep a team of four functioning far from home, she returned to the passenger compartment. Her teammates were awake when she reached the quiet, comfortable space.

"I got a bit of a question," Flynt informed her. Weiss nodded for him to proceed while she reclaimed her seat. "I don't fully understand this...radiation...stuff that Ron keeps talking about, but can it really poison the ground for years?"

"Yes," the blonde boy answered. "I don't understand it myself, I'm not a physicist, but when it charges stuff, like soil, the dense stuff can emit it for generations."

"We'll get to that in a bit," the musician told him. "I'm more interested in why we want to save BatiKiyisi."

"Don't you care for the people?" Weiss was completely shocked. Flynt had always seemed to be such a good guy.

"Of course I do," he was unruffled by her outrage. "I'm just saying that BatiKiyisi could be a bad gig now. Instead of trying to rebuild it, why not help anyone left to slide away, maybe to someplace like Soguk Su? Towns outside the kingdoms are forming and falling all of the time, so if you can save the people, why worry about the buildings?"

"Because we sort of need BatiKiyisi," Weiss admitted.

Both Flynt and Neon gave her odd looks. Ron looked to be uninterested.

"Look," she explained, manipulating her scroll to project an image of Anima on the bulkhead. "BatiKiyisi is here, on the great lake," she projected a red dot on the proper location. "And Soguk Su is here, on the seacoast." Again, a red dot appeared on the appropriate location.

"In addition to certain, unique flora and fauna, there are mineral deposits under and around the great lake, found nowhere else on Remnant," Weiss continued. Ron wondered how much of this was her repeating lessons she had learned in her childhood. "BatiKiyisi provides a collection point, to which these products can be brought, efficiently, via lake ship. From there, they are shuttled over the isthmus via the road to Soguk Su, where they can be loaded onto sea ships and distributed throughout Remnant. Manufactured goods from Atlas, agricultural products from Vale, other items produced elsewhere on Remnant find their way to the towns bordering the lake the same way, in reverse."

"But doesn't Mistral provide the same transit point?" Flynt asked. "Goods come from the lake via the town of..."

"Derin Su," Weiss supplied.

"Thanks," he nodded. "Derin Su has a road link to Mistral City, and Mistral City has a rail link to Windhaven and road links to other towns on the seacoast. What makes BatiKiyisi so important?"

"It's outside of the kingdoms," Weiss told him. Seeing her companions' odd looks, she continued. "All of the kingdoms occasionally get a stick up their a...attitude. They start thinking that they can improve their position in the world by denying the other kingdoms access to certain commodities. For Mistral, those commodities are the ones coming from the great lake. It's not just the other kingdoms that can be threatened. In the past, Mistral has tried to manipulate the independent towns on the lake by limiting the flow of goods from Mistral City to Derin Su. BatiKiyisi, through its link to Soguk Su, doesn't only supplement Mistral's trade route to the great lake, it provides an alternative route, keeping Mistral from dominating the region."

She heaved a sigh, "Mistral isn't the only one. Every kingdom on Remnant has tried the same thing to the surrounding countryside. That's why the towns between the kingdoms are so vital; they remind the councils that not everyone wants to be regulated...and that not everybody will be. The independent towns give the kingdoms' residents an alternative lifestyle...which forces the councils to not take their subjects' loyalty for granted."

"Whoa," Flynt seemed to be half impressed and half mocking. "I thought the Schnees were all about business, not the liberty and freedom thing."

"We are," Weiss snapped back. "Free and prosperous people make the best customers. If the site of BatiKiyisi is still usable, the Schnee Dust Company will pour money and resources into the rebuilding effort. If it isn't...we'll help evacuate and try to find another site that can be developed to provide the same service."

"There's another thing," Neon chimed in. "Ron, how do you know about this...fallout...and radiation? We poured through all of the physics articles in the library files. We did a search on radiation and fallout and came up with nothing. Atlas has the most advanced technology on Remnant, so if it isn't being studied in Atlas, it isn't being studied. Where did you come from?"

"I'm not from any of the kingdoms," Ron insisted.

"But you aren't from some town between them, either," Flynt countered. "No simple town is going to be able to produce these bombs, that must be made of stuff that even a physicist from the Atlas Academy of Science hasn't heard of. Are you from some hidden kingdom somewhere that's making these things?"

"And your semblance," Neon jumped in. "There's no way you could have mastered hyper-strength the way that you have, but still not know the basics of offensive and defensive aura use. You were well trained when you showed up...but not trained in aura use. What kind of a kingdom doesn't awaken its hunters' aura?"

"Headmaster Ironwood has asked me not to say," Ron snarled. The blonde boy wasn't in any mood to argue.

"And you've been shook up ever since you disarmed that bomb," Neon was determined to satisfy her curiosity, even if it killed her. "How is disabling one of those things...assuming it's as powerful as we've been let on...a bad thing?"

"It's a good thing!" Ron snapped. "It's the stuff that came with it that's not that great!"

"What stuff?" Neon demanded.

"Stuff I can't talk about," Ron slumped into his seat.

"We're your team," Flynt's voice conveyed the hurt he felt. "We face danger together, we back each other up. How are we supposed to do that if you aren't honest with us?"

"It's complicated," Ron grumbled.

"Everything is complicated," Neon protested. "That's why we work together...or why we're supposed to."

"Guys," Weiss came to his rescue. "I know most of why he can't talk. I was there for some of it and trust me, it's hard to believe. Can we make a deal with you? Once we eliminate the last bomb, we'll tell the two of you everything...as long as you don't tell anyone else."

"I'm not happy about you guys not being up front with us," Flynt fixed them with a hard look. "But it's a deal."

Suddenly, Weiss' scroll chimed. Looking at it, her eyes flew wide.

"Ruby!" She blurted out.

"This doesn't seem to be the time to think of gem mining," Neon sniffed.

"No, Ruby Rose, my teammate! She's close enough for a local scroll signal!" Weiss struck the call switch on the bulkhead next to her while staring at her scroll.

"Cockpit," a voice sounded over the intercom.

"Is there anything below us?" Weiss asked. "I just got a call from someone who might have vital information."

"Just a campfire," the copilot reported. "We've passed several."

"Find somewhere nearby to land," Weiss ordered.

"That may affect our schedule," the pilot now pointed out.

"I don't...understood," Weiss informed her crew. "It's on my authority."

"Searching for a landing site at this time."

That settled, Weiss hit the auto-dial.

"Weiss?" The familiar voice sounded over the heiress' scroll. "What are you doing here?"

"About to ask you the same thing," Weiss admitted. "I hope that's your campfire I'm over, we're landing now."

"We can hear your ship above us," Ruby's voice told her. "And we need help. Nora's hurt...bad. Torchwick has a bomb on the way to Atlas and another in Mistral and if we don't get there before he does, he could destroy the city. Our communicator thing doesn't work, we're out of dust rounds and we don't know what..."

"We'll talk in a few minutes," Weiss interrupted her. Looking at her companions, she decided. "We either just got some luck, or we ran into a delay. We will find out shortly."

* * *

Ruby's emotions were conflicted as she saw the airship descend to the road. Earlier, during her watch, she had checked on Nora. The orange-haired girl was finally sleeping, her hand in Ren's and her head resting against his chest. Ren hadn't wanted to sleep, but sheer exhaustion had taken their toll on the normally stoic young man. Ruby had actually been charmed by the sight, until she saw how swollen Nora's injury had become. There was no way for the team to know, or repair, the damage that had been done inside the limb. She was about to wake the others and ask what they could do when her scroll chirped. She was so stunned to see that it was Weiss that she stood, dumbfounded, until her partner called her. While still horrified about Nora's condition, she at least had some hope as the high-tech aircraft descended to the road.

She didn't even wait for the doors to open completely; as soon as she saw the familiar, small body and long, silver hair, she rushed forward and seized the slightly older girl in a fierce embrace.

"Weiss, I knew that your father took you to Atlas, but I left before I could find out anything!" She blurted out. "How are you doing and why are you here? Can you help us? We have to get to Mistral and...Ron?"

Ruby's eyes flew wide upon seeing the outsider. She looked at Weiss.

"We can explain later," Weiss told her, although she gladly returned the younger girl's hug. "What about Nora?"

"Torchwick's bunch broke her leg when they captured us," Ruby groaned. "Then, when he was trying to get me to talk, he put his cane on the break and..."

"I'll get a medical kit," Ron offered, ducking towards the cargo compartment.

"But the bombs," Ruby added. "One went off in BatiKiyisi and we saw it from here! There are two more! One's on the way to Atlas and the other is..."

"In Mistral," Weiss interrupted. "We already dealt with the one on the way to Atlas."

"You did?" Ruby asked.

"Your teammate here hasn't been sitting around resting," Flynt tipped his hat towards the heiress. "She's put together a solid team to make a difference."

"And you two are on it?" Ruby wanted to know. "What about the K and Y of FNKY?"

"Kristoph and Yoshi decided that the Battle of Beacon wasn't their fight," Neon sniffed. "So we decided we needed new teammates. Headmaster Ironwood..." her voice trailed into silence.

Before Ruby could question her, Ron returned with the medical kit, prompting Ruby to lead them all to where Nora was lying next to the bonfire. The ginger girl was now shivering, even though she was sweating profusely. Ren was holding a teacup to her lips while Jaune stood nearby, looking agitated, frustrated and helpless. As she had the most training, Weiss quickly shooed everyone but Ren away from Nora, then set up some diagnostic equipment.

"So what was the deal with General Ironwood?" Ruby asked, whispering, when they were away from the injured girl.

"He was with the air fleet," Flynt told them. "We haven't heard anything from them and we suspect that some giant bomb detonated when they were over BatiKiyisi."

"They were," Jaune told them, his voice grim. "And it did. It was all part of Torchwick's plan."

"We could see the explosion from here," Ruby added. "It was terrible."

"So...Headmaster Ironwood is gone," Neon's hand went to her mouth when she concluded this.

"That means two of the headmasters are dead," Ruby's voice was very small.

"And a third that we can't trust," Jaune added.

"What's this?" Flynt's eyes were very sharp on the blonde boy.

Ruby and Jaune told the three newcomers about their issues with Headmaster Lionheart and their meeting with Winter, when she put them on Torchwick's trail.

"That's good to hear," Flynt noted. "We were planning on bringing this to the headmaster when we got to Mistral City, hoping he could help us work with the locals to find the bomb. Now, we find out he's working for the other side."

"We don't know how much he's working with them," Jaune pointed out. "But we can't trust him. Besides, we've learned where the bomb is at...or at least where Roman stashed it."

"How!" Neon quickly shrugged off her depression in light of new information.

Ruby and Jaune told the other three about the fights against Torchwick's faction and Emerald's betrayal. They also loaded Emerald's confession to their scrolls.

"Emerald isn't exactly a trustworthy source," Neon pointed out.

"But it's the only lead we have," Ron added.

"And it's a good thing we learned about Lionheart," Flynt continued. "Otherwise, we would have taken this to him. Even if he isn't marching to the other side's beat, he'd probably let them know we were on to them."

"So we know where to start when we get to Mistral City," Ron concluded.

"Hey, we've been doing the talking," Jaune protested. "What about you, Ron? It's pretty obvious that you got to Atlas, but you're here now, so it looks like the scientists there weren't able to send you back."

"Send him back?" Neon asked. "Back to where?" Both members of the former Team FNKY were paying rapt attention.

"Well back to..."

"Jaune!" Ron interrupted his friend. "General Ironwood decided that my...origins...would best be kept secret."

"Oh..." Ruby gasped. "So even your teammates don't know that you came through a portal from..."

"Ruby!" Ron snapped, looking at the other two members of his team. Flynt and Neon shared a look, then looked at him with an expression that said that the issue was far from over.

"Ron!" Weiss called. "I need some ice dust crystals!"

"Oh! I got it!" Neon shouted. The slender girl scampered up the ramp to the cargo hold.

"So...what about your trip to Atlas?" Ruby asked Ron. "How did you get there? How did you meet Weiss?"

"Your uncle Qrow took me to your home on Patch," Ron told her. "Weiss was there, with your sister."

"Yang? How was she doing?"

"She seemed to be doing pretty well," he shrugged, rubbing his stomach in remembered pain. "She really pounded on me after Weiss woke my aura. That prosthetic arm of hers really packs a punch...almost as much as her real arm."

"She got a prosthetic? She's sparring and training again?"

"And teaching at Signal," Ron was glad to see that Ruby's attitude was getting better, the more she heard. "They were having a teaching shortage."

"What? What about my dad?"

"He was off somewhere on a mission," Ron noted that her attitude had taken a bit of a dip.

"Well, he must have been satisfied with Yang to leave," Ruby mused. "What did you guys do on Patch?"

"Weiss woke up my aura," he reminded her. "We did a lot of training and I made these." He held up his tonfa. "Qrow took us to Vale, where I had a long...LONG talk with Doctor Oobleck." Ron flinched at the memory. Ruby and Jaune smirked. "Finally, we celebrated Weiss' birthday then she sneaked me into Atlas on a smugglers' ship."

"But Yang was happy?" Ruby demanded confirmation.

"She was the most cheerful when she was beating me up...but yeah."

Flynt, Jaune and Ron all looked on with fond amusement as the younger girl did a sort of victory jig, happy that her sister had pulled herself out of her funk.

"Qrow still didn't have his stamina back," Ron told her, once her enthusiasm had worked itself out...a little. "He was going to take up his teaching position when we left."

"So what happened in Atlas?" Jaune asked.

"Weiss kicked her father out as the head of the Schnee Dust Company, talked...General Ironwood...into lifting the dust embargo and started to do things!" Flynt told them. "Sure, there's a lot of details I'm skipping over, but she's making things work!"

Both Ruby and Jaune looked suitably impressed, but Weiss herself showed up with Neon before either could demand further details.

"Nora needs a proper doctor," Weiss told the other three. "I've given her the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory that the medical petition suggested, and I've iced down the leg to cut the swelling, but if we don't get her to a doctor, soon, she's going to lose the leg. The airship is configured for maximum cargo and minimal passengers. We can dump the cargo to make room for all of us. We'll fly to Mistral. I know they have doctors there that can handle things."

"Soguk Su is closer," Ruby pointed out.

"It's a good sized town," Weiss countered. "But not a kingdom. I'm no expert but I think that her leg is going to need a very skilled surgeon. The damage that Torchwick did to it..."

"You're still not thinking things through," Flynt chided her. "When you get to Mistral, there's a very good chance that the authorities will impound your ship. You've done some great things to ease tensions, but Mistral's still going to be a little suspicious."

"Who cares?" She snapped back at him. "We need to get Nora to a doctor and we need to find the bomb!"

"But you could use someone outside the kingdom, in case you can't leave," Flynt pointed out. "Why don't you take Nora and the other guy...Ren? I don't think that they go anywhere without each other."

"They don't," Ruby confirmed.

"Me and Neon can stay here, with Ruby and Jaune," Flynt continued. "If you don't have any problems, unload the ship and send it back to pick us up. On the other hand, if there are any delays, you'll be in position to deal with the bomb. Not only that, you'll have all of the equipment you need."

"And we can check out the area while you're in Mistral," Neon pointed out. "We can look and see if there's anything left of the air fleet, maybe even get to BatiKiyisi and help survivors."

"We'll take one of the communicator things with us," Flynt continued. "That way, we can let each other know what's going on."

"I...don't like separating like this," Weiss told him. "We're supposed to be a team."

"We are," Flynt shrugged. "You're putting the pieces where they need to be. The most important thing is to get to the bomb, and now you know where to find it. You need Ron there to disable it. The second most important thing is to get Nora to a hospital. You can do that on the way. The next mission is to check out the air fleet and BatiKiyisi. We can do that, even if you can't send your airship back to pick us up so we can help you in Mistral."

"You have ten minutes," Weiss decided. "Ten minutes to grab your gear, the communication device, and any food and other supplies you'll need."

"Good call," Flynt nodded his approval.

"Why are you standing there smiling?" She demanded. "You have ten minutes! Get what you need! I need to get Nora to the hospital."

The team scrambled to get Neon and Flynt's equipment unloaded, as well as load Ren and Nora's. They unloaded one of the communicators, as well as some food and medical supplies. They would have unloaded dust, except that Neon and Flynt were already carrying as much as they could and neither Ruby nor Jaune used it in the powdered or crystal form. Spare ammunition for Ruby would have been welcome, but they hadn't packed any in the proper caliber for her sniper rifle. Weiss made sure to copy the specifications to her scroll; she would have a weapon shop produce some once she reached Mistral.

Finally, Ron and Jaune carried Nora into the passenger compartment and made her as comfortable as they could on one of the seats. Ren stayed close to her, holding her hand and assuring her that she would be fine while Ruby and Weiss exchanged some last-minute information.

"You can't trust Headmaster Lionheart," Ruby reminded her old partner.

"I'll work with the Atlesian Embassy when I get there," Weiss assured her. "I'm glad that you could tell me that Winter was well, even though you haven't seen her for several weeks."

"The same with you and Yang," Ruby clutched wrists with her. "And Qrow as well. Once we meet up again, I want the whole story of everything you've done since the tower."

" _You_ want _my_ story?" Weiss shook her head. "I'm not the one who walked across two continents." The heiress choked up slightly. "Be well, until we meet again."

"You too," Ruby shed a tear as they embraced again. "I think I'm going to have to collect Jaune."

Ruby rushed into the passenger compartment. Somewhat confused, Weiss walked up and saw Jaune saying very emotional farewells to Ren and Nora. The heiress' breath caught, realizing how painful this separation must be to the team that had gone through so much together. However, the delay wasn't helping Nora, so she waited just a minute before stepping forward.

"Jaune, I'll take good care of her," she assured the tall, young man. "We'll take good care of both of them. Now, we have to get moving. Every minute we delay is another minute that she's not with the doctor."

The blonde clearly wasn't happy with the situation, but he provided a curt nod before embracing both of his teammates one last time. Ruby was then able to pull him out of the airship. Weiss and Ron offered quick farewells and admonitions to be careful to both Flynt and Neon. Not wanting to be a hypocrite, as well as being concerned for Nora, Weiss cut the farewells short and herded Ron back inside. Soon, they were airborne again and heading east. Ron quickly pulled out his scroll and activated the radiation detecting petition, staring with a certain amount of dread at the countryside passing below them.

An Atlesian airship travels very fast. Weiss spent the time deep in thought, considering how to approach the theater when they reached Mistral. It took less than an hour to cover the distance between the pass and BatiKiyisi...or where the town once stood. Ron's sudden gasp let her know that he had seen something...disturbing. Dreading what she was going to see, but still curious, she stood so that she could look at the ground, far below. Soon she gasped, as well.

She had never actually seen the town, but it was obvious where it once stood. There was now a shallow lake, nearly a kilometer across, attached to the great lake by a narrow mouth. Beyond this lake, in an arc that extended over a kilometer from the center of the small lake, nothing stood. Beyond this was another arc where almost nothing stood, save a couple of stone, building corners. A few section of the town wall stood, looking like broken teeth. Beyond the ruined wall, the destruction became less complete until over five kilometers from the center of the blast, the few outlying farms appeared mostly undamaged. Flames still burned here and there in the rubble.

At Ron's gesture, she noted a circle of trucks beyond the destruction, with what appeared to be a crude camp inside the protective formation. On the lake shore, a couple of ships were docked between the sunken hulls of destroyed lake craft. Weiss immediately understood; approaching ships and vehicle convoys were providing whatever aid they could to the survivors.

Ron had his scroll in his hand, clearly not satisfied with what he was seeing.

"There's no reading," he told her. "Even this high up, I'm sure I should be reading some radiation."

"Miss Schnee," the call came from the intercom. "Do you wish to land and provide what assistance we can?"

Weiss was about to tell the woman to do so, but she suddenly realized that she couldn't. Her heart seemed to shrink and freeze in her chest when she pressed the button on the wall.

"No," she said, tears flowing from her eyes. "We have to get to Mistral."

"Understood," the voice sounded both sad and understanding. Almost blind from the tears, Weiss seized her scroll and started to take pictures of the devastation.

"Weiss," Nora's slurred voice sounded behind her. "If it costs my leg to help others..."

"That's not it," Weiss blurted, not trusting herself to turn around. "If we don't get to Mistral and find the bomb, this will happen there." She hated herself for saying what she did next, even though it was the truth. "This was a tragedy, a...a horrific act. If the same things happens in Mistral City, it will be so much worse,"

"Why are you taking photos, if the sight is so painful to you?" Ren asked her, his voice as calm as it almost always was.

"To show the officials in Mistral City," she told him, her voice growing stronger. "If they see this, they may allow my airship to help in the relief effort. They may send aid to the survivors."

" _I'm so sorry,_ " she thought to the tiny figures, far below and getting farther behind her aircraft. " _I can't take the risk to help you. If I stop, if I don't push on, so many more could suffer your fate_."

Suddenly feeling a heavy weight on her shoulders, she slumped into her chair and buried her face in her hands. Ron's arm quickly wrapped around her shoulders, making her feel less alone, but no less responsible. This was so wrong; a huntress was supposed to run towards danger and distress, not away from it. Weiss Schnee was certain that she had made the right choice...and that it would haunt her for the rest of her days.

* * *

"That's bad luck, you know," Ruby told her three companions.

"What's that?" Flynt asked her.

"My dad always told me that it's bad luck to watch the bullhead fly away after it drops you off on a mission," she clarified.

"Well, that's not a bullhead," Flynt grinned to let her know he was just trying to keep up a positive sense of humor. "So we should be safe. What's our next move?"

"I say we get on the road and head towards BatiKiyisi...or what's left of it," Jaune finished packing his share of the fresh supplies in his pack. Hoisting it onto his shoulders, he looked at the other three, waiting to be contradicted.

"I can't come up with anything better," Ruby shrugged.

"Or me," Flynt admitted.

"I'm really feeling out of place," Neon grumbled.

"Hey, we're not trying to run over you because your a faunas," Jaune protested.

"That's not it," she corrected him. "All three of you have been team leaders, and I haven't been. By the way, who's our leader?"

"We never really discussed it, with Team RNJR," Ruby admitted. "We just all did what we had to do."

"Okay, so we know what we have to do," Flynt told them. "We don't really need a leader, we just need to get at it."

With a series of nods, they started their journey to the east. Once they found a pace that seemed to agree with everyone, Flynt broke the silence.

"I have a couple of suggestions," he mentioned. "If you care to hear."

"Suggest away," Ruby prompted him.

"Okay, first of all, the two of you look like you're barely on your feet. Why don't we take it easy today, make camp early so you can get a little extra rest?"

"We need to get to the town!" Ruby protested. "What if the survivors are being attacked by grimm?"

"Then you won't do any good by showing up in no condition for a fight," Flynt pointed out. "You've had a rough last couple of days, you need to recover a little."

"Point taken," Jaune agreed with him. "What about your second suggestion?"

"We've never worked together as a team, so if we run into trouble, why don't the two of you stick together while the two of us do the same? We'll help each other, of course, but if we try to act as one big team, the two of us will probably get in your way."

"And we'd get in yours," Ruby agreed with him. "That makes sense to me."

"Oh, I don't know that much about the two of you!" Neon chimed in. "Since I wasn't a team leader, I didn't scout you guys out. Just what can you guys do?"

"Well, I'm pretty good at taking a hit," Jaune said.

"Hey, no false modesty!" Flynt interrupted him. "After we won our team match, back at the tournament, I watched the recordings of your matches. Care to hear what I came up with?"

"Sure," Jaune looked a little embarrassed. "I guess I wasn't doing my job, since I didn't review your match."

"I didn't either," Ruby admitted, also looking chagrined.

"Hey, no time for getting down on yourselves!" Flynt told the other two. "Here's what I came up with. Jaune seemed to be pretty much middle-of-the-road when it came to fighting, but like you said, you could take a hit and keep on coming better than most. Ruby, you seemed to have the best offense of all four of us. You can really dish it out with that scythe of yours."

"Well...I...had a pretty good teacher," she stammered, blushing a little under the compliment.

"I'm willing to bet you've gotten better during your little trip...all the way from Vale," he continued.

"We've been in a lot of fights," Jaune agreed.

"Okay, I'm going to be the best one for dealing with problems at a distance," Flynt continued, patting his trumpet. "I can swat grimm and bad guys around with this, but I don't have the ability to drop a tough opponent in one shot like Ruby does."

"Now let's get to Neon," he continued. "She's quick, hard to hit and is very good at immobilizing opponents with her ice attacks."

Neon smiled and executed a pirouette at the compliment.

"However, she doesn't have the knockdown power that Ruby has, and she can't take a pounding like Jaune can."

"I'm not going to be as quick as I usually am," she added. "A forest and a wilderness road aren't great for rollerblading."

"But she's still the most agile of any of us," Flynt pointed out. "Now, I have some suggestions for fighting the bad guys and grimm..."

While he discussed tactics, Ruby realized that he was correct in his appraisal, and came to the conclusion that she should have studied the recordings of the team and doubles rounds back during the tournament. Recalling the match where Flynt and Neon took on Yang and Weiss, she noted that he was correct; Team FNKY had kept Team RWBY off balance and frustrated for most of the contest. It was the fact that neither of them had a devastating attack...and Yang did, that turned it in her sister's favor.

"...so my suggestion is that if we face grimm, let me and Neon keep most of them busy," he concluded. "We'll be able to slow them down...sort of serve them up to the two of you at a tempo you can handle."

"Sounds good to me," Jaune told him. "And we might get a chance to put it to the test. We're getting close to the place where we had our fight yesterday."

Flynt only nodded, understanding that it would be best to keep quiet. The new team remained on high alert, creeping slowly along the road. Was it her ears or her imagination that told Ruby there were large bodies moving through the forest to their right...around where they had fought yesterday? Risking quick glances at her companions, she noted that they were hearing things, as well.

She didn't know if they made a noise, if the grimm caught their scent, if one just happened to look at the road at the right time or if the nervousness they were all feeling drew the creatures. All she knew was that suddenly, the roars got louder, followed by the crashing of large bodies forcing their way through the trees.

"Neon, take the left!" Flynt shouted. "I'll take the right! Ruby, Jaune, take the ones coming from in front of us!"

A line of grimm could now be seen approaching through the forest. The agile faunas girl retracted the blades into her footwear and darted forward and to the left to meet them. Rather than strike at the first grimm, she hooked her nunchucks onto a tree branch and swung up, kicking and ursa on the way, to land on the limb. A quick swing of the weapon froze a beowolf's swiping paw to the branch before she jumped clear; tucking, rolling and freezing another beowolf's rear paw to a tree trunk. Ruby lost sight of her as she zigzagged through the grimm and the trees. On the right, Flynt swept at least four grimm, Ruby couldn't determine the species, back into the woods with his sound waves. That left a small horde, charging directly at the team, for her and Jaune.

Ruby didn't have rounds to spare, but she still had her semblance and she had recovered from the vertigo caused by Nora's grenade. Rose petals burst in her wake when she arced just in front of the oncoming creatures, spinning to decapitate a creep and slash a fore-paw from a beowolf before continuing her arc to place herself behind Jaune. As had happened several times during the long journey, she felt guilty for letting her be the defense for both of them, but she had to admit that it made sense; he could take a beating. His shield, armor and abundant aura meant that these lesser grimm would have to swarm him to harm him..and Ruby didn't give them the chance.

Since she didn't have to worry about defending herself, she could concentrate all of her attention, every motion to unleashing powerful, sweeping blows with Crescent Rose. Grimm trying to close on Jaune did so with missing limbs...those that she didn't decapitate. The maimed creatures were no match for the blonde boy, who had continued to improve throughout the long journey. Crocea Mors slashed and thrust in a constant dance of ill-intent. The attacks now flowed, one following another with a minimum of wasted motion, never pausing and never interfering with his braced shield and smooth footwork. Ruby lost count, but more than a half-dozen grimm fell before Flynt shouted again.

"Neon, get clear!"

In response, the faunas burst from the foliage, a couple of the creatures on her tail. She passed close to Jaune, who re-positioned himself slightly to cut them off. This time, the slaughter was child's play, as the grimm that Neon had stunned or immobilized recovered, one at a time, to throw themselves at Jaune's defense and Ruby's attacks.

"I'm letting them in from the right!" Flynt shouted.

"Two coming in from behind!" Neon added. "I've got them!"

Trusting their teammates, Ruby and Jaune concentrated on the trickle of grimm that continued to close. Jaune continually moved, keeping himself between the creatures and his teammates while Ruby supported him. Again, the grimm came on individually, as they recovered from the delaying tactics that Flynt and Neon had employed. They stood no chance against Ruby's attacks, combined with Jaune's defense. Neon and Flynt finished the two that had circled behind the team by the time Crescent Rose sent the last creep's head flying from its neck.

For a moment or two, Ruby and Jaune shared and incredulous look. While they had expected to handle the grimm pack, it had gone much more easily than they could have hoped. Jaune gave a slight nod towards Flynt and Ruby nodded her agreement.

"You two have really become a team," Flynt noted.

"Yeah, if the two of you could get into the doubles round of the next tournament, you'd really cause some trouble!" Neon added.

"Thanks," Jaune blushed a little bit. "But Ruby and I have been thinking..."

"We need a leader," the younger team took up the thought. "And after that little demonstration, we thing the leader should be you, Flynt."

The musician smiled and ran a finger along the brim of his hat.

"Okay, my first call as the team leader is we keep moving, our mission isn't to fight random grimm in the forest, it's to head to BatiKiyisi. If Schnee's able to send her airship back to us...fine, we go to Mistral. But we do what we can, when we can."

"Sounds good to me," Ruby grinned.

"Okay, second act," Flynt continued. "You guys have more field experience than me and Neon put together. You have a good idea, a suggestion, or anything like that, you let me know."

"Got it," Jaune now sported a smile.

"And the next decision," he told them. "We find a good camping spot, early, we take it. The two of you are running on fumes! You're tired, hungry, dirty and ragged. We need to get you cleaned up, fed right and a solid night's sleep."

"But BatiKiyisi..." Ruby started to protest.

"We've sung this tune before! The four of us won't do them any good if we get there with the two of you unable to do anything! Now, do you know a good spot anywhere near?"

"A few kilometers further on," Jaune told him. "It's where vehicle convoys camp for the night. There's firewood and a clear spring."

"That's what I'm talking about! Lead on!"

It actually turned into a fairly pleasant walk. They weren't in a hurry, so the kilometers passed by without fatiguing them. Ruby was able to put the past events to the back of her mind...at least partially so, and listen to Flynt and Neon tell them about Weiss and Ron in Atlas. She shared a look with Jaune when Neon mentioned that Weiss' mother, Einsam, seemed to approve of Weiss and Ron spending time close to each other. The folks in Atlas tended to consider themselves a cut above the rest of Remnant. Imagine how they would react if they learned the heiress of their most prominent family, as well as the CEO of the wealthiest company, was spending time with someone not even from this world!

Upon reaching the site, Jaune pointed out that they still had a several hours of daylight and could make several more kilometers.

"No way," Flynt told him. "We set up camp, get a fire going, and take care of the two of you."

Soon, they had a fire burning, and a couple of collapsible buckets of water warming over them. They fashioned a privacy screen out of pine branches, and Ruby had the first go, giving herself a good wash for the first time in days and cleaning her clothing. With her clothes hung near the fire to dry and her wrapped in a rough tarp, Jaune took his turn behind the screen, getting clean. Flynt and Neon worked on the meal in the meantime.

It didn't take long for their clothing to dry enough to put back on and although it was stiff, the fact that it was clean more than made up for the discomfort. After that, they properly maintained their weapons and other gear, sharpening blades, scraping off rust and oiling all of the metal. By the time the sun started to set, Ruby felt much better and thought that Jaune looked more himself, as well. Both ate more than they probably needed to, but rations had been very light the last few days. While they teamed up to clean the dishes, Flynt and Neon urged them to tell stories about their trek across Anima. Being exhausted, neither of the Team RNJR members noted that the other two subtly probed for information about Ron.

With the sun going down, Jaune set up the communication device and transmitted the news of the day. Ruby saw him first smile when he received a response, then frown when he read it.

"They made it to Mistral," he reported. "They got Nora to a hospital and the doctors say that she'll make a full recovery, but it may take a couple of weeks. The Mistralean officials have confiscated Weiss' airship; apparently there's been some serious fighting around Kuchinashi and they need it to scout and shuttle people around. Weiss has checked into Mistral's finest hotel, and she and Ron are going to see a play tonight!" He shook his head. "What kind of thing is that to do when we're trying to stop a bomb?"

"A pretty smart move," Flynt told them. "Assuming the play is at The Forgotten Evening."

"You think they're scouting the place?"

"More likely giving themselves a cover story for scouting it," he told them. "Weiss is clever and sneaky when it comes to dealing with people. Be glad she's on our side. Now, I'll take first watch and Neon will take the second. We need the two of you to get some sleep."

Ruby didn't realize how tired she was. She actually stumbled towards her sleeping bag until Jaune steadied her a little. Clumsy with fatigue, she was only vaguely aware that Jaune had to help her pull off her boots and tuck her into her bag. Her next memory was waking to the sun in her eyes, with Neon and Flynt preparing breakfast. She wanted to give them a piece of her mind, as she was perfectly capable of taking her turn on watch, but she felt too rested, too appreciative to complain.

Any good feeling were dampened by the knowledge that they were heading towards BatiKiyisi, and whatever horrors the huge bomb had inflicted on the innocent town.

* * *

It wasn't easy being the responsible party. Weiss Schnee liked both Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, she wanted nothing more than to be with the two of them while they dealt with Nora's injury. The only problem was that there was still something bigger than Nora to deal with. Someone had to act logically first and compassionately second and if anyone were to call her an ice queen for doing so, at least they'd be around to call her that.

The Schnee name brought both privilege and responsibility. Her father taught her that the foolish and self-indulgent would concentrate on the privilege first and the responsibility second. He had also taught her that the logical and dedicated would concentrate on the responsibility first. She still remembered him telling her that the intelligent Schnee concentrated on the responsibility while giving the appearance of concentrating on the privilege. Half an hour out of Mistral City, the Haven Tower signal was strong enough for her to put this in motion.

While the flight crew relayed Nora's medical information to Mistralean flight control, Weiss first arranged for lodging for Ren. The hotel she selected was neither luxurious nor strictly economy; it was, coincidentally, very close to the hospital where Nora was about to be admitted. In the few minutes she had before her ship landed, she contacted a weapons shop and ordered ammunition made for Ren, Nora and Ruby. This also informed her that while the price of dust was still somewhat elevated, it was dropping as imports were filling the retailers' shelves. She didn't have time to do anything else before she had to deal with the customs officials.

While there may be a certain suspicion of Atlas in Mistral, the locals were a compassionate people. The customs officials quickly passed Nora and Ren through, loading the girl on an ambulance for a quick trip to see a specialist. As much as Weiss tried to maintain a haughty expression, she couldn't disguise the sigh of relief. This left her and Ron to deal with the customs officials who now went through all of her ship's contents.

Apparently, there had been an attack on the city of Kuchinashi, in the kingdom's south, and all airships were being pressed into service. The officials explained that at Headmaster Lionheart's suggestion, most hunters and soldiers were being kept to the north, to defend against an attack from Atlas. However, ships and volunteers were being sent south. As her ship was very high tech and fast, it would be used for scouting and observation. Weiss frowned at this, but kept her mouth shut.

It was a couple of dreary hours as the officials unloaded and inspected everything from the ship. Fortunately, her name meant that they expected to deal with a silly girl who was more concerned with experiencing the finer things in life than a young woman on a mission. The fine clothes and lien were of course her wanting to maintain her luxurious lifestyle, even when away from home. The tools were explained as a silly girl who wanted to take lessons in industrial art, and of course Mistral was home to the greatest artists in the world. The camping gear was, of course, just another rich girl's indulgence...so that she could live rough for a day or two before returning to the city to be pampered in the finest accommodations. Finally, the officials were satisfied that she wasn't funding or equipping some sort of invasion. With that finished, she could get back to work.

The first thing she did was send Ron off to the hospital, to be with Ren while Nora was in surgery. After that, she contacted the finest hotel in Mistral and used her lien, as well as her name, to book adjacent and conjoining luxury suites on the top floor for herself and Ron. Just coincidentally, when the door adjoining the two suites was opened, there would be enough straight-line space available to set up their antenna. She then contacted a chauffeur service and arranged to have all of the possessions delivered to the hotel. With that taken care of, she hired a taxi to take her to the Atlesian Embassy.

The receptionist at the embassy was suitably impressed when the Schnee heiress showed up; quickly ushering her to see a deputy ambassador. Upon meeting the man, Weiss used the petition that she had received back in Atlas, which informed the ambassador of her semi-official activities. Soon, she was speaking to the ambassador himself and informing him of the bomb that went off in BatiKiyisi and the one they suspected was hidden in Mistral City itself. In return, the ambassador detailed the suspicious activities that Headmaster Lionheart had performed, which seemed to leave the kingdom vulnerable to attack from the south. He then informed Weiss that the military attache had developed some contacts with the Mistralean military and police force, which he could utilize to ease her search for the bomb and any consequences that could take place from seizing it.

The embassy had access to her dirigible's communications link, so Weiss took the opportunity to review the locations and cargoes of Schnee and allied ships. She then contacted her head of shipping and issued orders for relief supplies to be sent to Soguk Su. Some manipulation of the shipping currently at sea meant that additional supplies would soon be arriving at the port city...but not enough to overload the trucking capacity known to shuttle goods between Soguk Su and BatiKiyisi. Even though she was only eighteen, Weiss had received enough education in logistics to make career military officers look like amateurs. Her business at the embassy concluded, she hired a taxi to take her to the hospital. It was now time for some personal compassion.

At the hospital, she found Ron and Ren in a waiting room. Nora was still in surgery and was expected to be there for a few more hours...apparently Torchwick had inflicted considerable damage to the girl's leg and the surgeons were performing some very delicate work to ensure that Nora would eventually be able to subject her limb to the intense stresses that being a huntress required. Weiss worked with Ron to convince Ren that waiting there would do nobody any good. Eventually, they got the young man to accompany them to the room Weiss had obtained for him. Once there, they chased him into the shower and Weiss went out and obtained some food while Ron took his clothing to the hotel's laundry. The clothing was still in the dryer when Weiss returned, so Ren had to dine while wearing a towel around his waist. His long friendship with Nora...and his life in the coed Team JNPR room, meant that he was not self conscious in the slightest about dining in this condition.

Weiss, on the other hand, found it rather disconcerting.

Eventually Ren's clothing was dry, allowing him to dress. Of course, he wanted to return to the hospital but Weiss reminded him that the nursing staff would call him as soon as Nora was out of surgery, and that he would have plenty of time to get there before his longtime friend woke up. Instead, she suggested that he maintain his weapons and other equipment. After giving her an odd look, he agreed, sat on the bed, and went to work. Weiss asked Ron to tell about some of his adventures on Earth, while she went back to work on her scroll. As she had hoped, a full stomach and a familiar task, as well as stories to keep his mind away from the horrible things happening, started to make Ren's eyelids get heavier. Just after Ron told how he and Kim had finally realized they had romantic feelings for each other, it became clear that the troubled young man couldn't stay awake much longer. Finally, Ron and Weiss convinced him to take a nap, secure in the knowledge that he would still be available for Nora.

"He's stubborn," Weiss shook her head as the two slipped out of the room and locked it behind them. "We're going to have to hurry."

"Hurry?" Ron asked her. "Hurry where?"

"We have to get back to our rooms and set up the communication device, so all of us can keep track of each other. Then, we have to clean up and get on our formal attire."

"Formal attire?" Ron was confused, but followed her as she summoned a taxi to take them to their hotel.

"Of course," she told them. "We're going to catch a play tonight."

"Do you really think this is the proper time for entertain..." Ron's face suddenly went from frustrated to clever. "I don't suppose this play is going to take place at The Forgotten Evening?"

"My," her voice was pure, sweet sarcasm. "Why would you suspect that particular establishment?"

* * *

There was a familiar, yet comforting pressure on her hand. This pressure brought awareness...remembering Torchwick torturing her to make Ruby talk, Weiss' miracle arrival, the trip to Mistral and the doctor telling her something about extensive fractures and soft tissue damage before wheeling her into the operating room. Then, comforting darkness.

"Nora," a familiar, gentle voice whispered, prompting her to open eyes she didn't realize were closed. The lights were dim and the images she could see were fuzzy. It seemed to take forever for her to focus on her best friend's face. With that, other sensations came into play. She realized that she was resting on a comfortable bed with soft sheets covering her. Her limbs felt strangely heavy.

"Do..." she swallowed, bringing some measure of relief to a dry mouth. "Do I still have the leg?"

"Yes," relief rushed through her at Ren's answer. "And you'll recover completely...eventually."

"Eventually?" She asked. Further words were impossible, as he held a glass and straw to her mouth. She greedily pulled the moisture into her parched throat.

"The damage was extensive, so it may take several weeks before it will be able to withstand the stress that a huntress' activities will place upon it."

"So I'm out of action for awhile," she grumbled. Despite her funk, she looked at her friend are realized that he was clean and moderately rested. "Someone talked you into cleaning up and taking a nap."

"Weiss," he shrugged. "Her and Ron are taking in a play."

Her mind was slow but she caught his satisfied smirk and, after a few moments, realized what was really happening.

"So what do I do now?" she asked.

"A day or so of bed rest, followed by physical therapy," he answered. His face was troubled.

"What's wrong?" She demanded. "Have any of our friends been hurt...or worse?"

"No," he shook his head fiercely. "I..."

"C'mon, we've always been up front with each other."

Taking a deep breath, he continued. "Nora...seeing Torchwick hurting you...wondering if we were going to be able to get you out of there...then wondering if we were going to be able to save you leg..."

"Yeah?" She prompted, when he trailed into silence.

"I...began to wonder about us," he admitted. "And I...well...I was thinking about how we've always been together...but not together, together...and..."

"Good evening, Miss Valkyrie...and Mr. Ren," an orderly announced, walking into the room to Nora's extreme irritation. "The doctor will be by in a few minutes to ask you some questions but in the meantime, I'm afraid that your room is going to become semi-private. There was apparently a pitched battle in Kuchinashi and some of the wounded were sent here to recover. Your new roommate has a leg wound, herself, so perhaps you can exchange notes."

Still feeling intensely grumpy, Nora looked around and noted that she was in a two-bed hospital room and that the other bed was empty. She contented herself with a glare at the man, even though it wasn't really his fault, as he pulled the privacy curtain between the two beds. She and Ren could hear as a gurney was wheeled into the other half of the room and the staff members hoisted her new roommate into her bed.

"Very well," the orderly announced. "Now that everyone is covered up enough for modesty's sake, perhaps introductions are in order." He pulled the curtain back. "Nora Valkyrie, I'd like you to meet..."

"Yang!" Nora and Ren blurted at the same time.

"Nora! Ren!" The golden-haired girl gasped.

The beds were too far apart for Nora and Yang to reach each other, but Ren was able to approach Yang and offer his hand. Seeing that the three were already acquainted...and friendly...the hospital staff exited the room while Yang seized Ren's hand and yanked him in for a rib-straining hug.

"Half of that is for her," Yang murmured to the embarrassed young man. Suddenly, her lilac eyes flew wide. "Wait a minute, you were traveling with Ruby! What happened! Is she okay!"

"She is well," Ren assured her, feeling at his torso as if checking for damage. "We left her, with Jaune, Neon Katt and Flynt Coal on the west part of the continent."

"How could you do that?" Yang demanded. While her eyes didn't flash red, her expression clearly showed that she was upset.

"I understand that you wish to be reunited," Ren was confused. "But we had no way of knowing that you were here and space was limited on the..."

"No," Yang shook her head. "How could you leave her with Jaune?"

* * *

For every secret that a kingdom hid, there were a dozen to be found in the towns between them. A handful of airships, mostly of Mistralean origin, plied the skies between such towns, carrying passengers and high value cargo. Some of these ships flew, unofficially, at night, carrying passengers who preferred that their travels remain unnoticed. Fortunately for Qrow Branwen, most of these nocturnal airships found roosts near bars to wait for the hours of darkness.

The huntsman had managed a slight buzz...but wasn't yet pleasantly drunk, waiting for the sun to go down so that he could slip through a gate whose lock had 'accidentally' been left unlocked and find his way into a hangar whose airship was supposedly being subjected to routine maintenance for a few days. In reality, the ship would cross the straits from Eastern Sanus to Western Anima tonight, then return the next night. Qrow wasn't interested in the return trip. Everything seemed to be converging on Mistral, so that's where he needed to be.

Behind him, the door opened and closed. The buzz of conversation went silent, then slowly came back at a slightly muted level. Turning around, he saw a young boy, maybe twelve to fourteen, wearing a work-stained farmhand's outfit, approaching him.

" _Idiot,_ " he thought. " _You think work on the farm is hard and boring? Well, hard and boring is a blessing compared to where I've been. Another fool kid who learned about a huntsman passing through, and now he wants to come along and live the glorious life. I'll put him in his place._ "

"Y'know, pipsqueak, this isn't a good place for kids," he drawled to the boy. "All sort of accidents can happen, and the local cops don't exactly question what goes on in here."

"Shut up! I'm getting to it!" The kid snapped, apparently to an invisible presence on his left shoulder. Then the visibly braced himself before looking Qrow in the eye. "I'm supposed to tell you...that I want my cane back."

A wave of relief washed over Qrow, but he was determined to not let it show. Instead, he stood up, towering over the kid, who prudently took a couple of steps back. Qrow nodded and pulled the cane from the magnetic clip on his back.

"It's good to see you again, Oz," he murmured, tossing the device to the kid.

As soon as it hit the youngster's hands, it extended to its full length, removing any traces of doubt from Qrow's mind.

" _It might be good to see Oz_ ," he thought. " _But I sure feel sorry for this kid._ "

* * *

 _A/N: Again and as always, thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta assistance._


	28. Chapter 28

"What do you mean, how could we leave her with him?" Nora demanded. "Nobody's going to mess with Ruby without dealing with Jaune first, and he's a whole lot tougher than when we left Patch!"

"I'm not worried about anyone else messing with Ruby," Yang growled at her. "I'm worried about Jaune messing with her!"

"Do you really think that Jaune is capable of harming your sister?" Ren's voice was much more reasonable than the two women's, although his expression reflected that he didn't care for Yang's implicit accusations. "Even if you discount the fact that she is capable of besting him in a fight, he is very fond of her. I cannot picture him intentionally injuring her."

"It's not fighting I'm talking about," Yang snarled at the young man. "You traveled with the two, how could you let this happen?"

"Let what happen?" Nora was beginning to get confused as well as irritated.

"Don't play ignorant with me! Neptune showed me a clip of the two of them leaving a local make-out spot early one morning! The two of them were looking very happy to be with each other, so I don't think it just happened that night. How long have the two of you been turning a blind eye to him messing with a sixteen year old girl?"

"Why..." Nora's outburst was silenced by Ren's gentle hand on her shoulder. She reluctantly let him speak, understanding that calm words were a better idea than a heated argument.

"The incident you are referring to occurred after we had performed a surveillance mission for...someone whom I will not mention," the young man informed the angry blonde. "They had spent several hours in some storm sewers and were both filthy and disheveled. Their exit point took them through a park and they deducted that it was used for this purpose, by observing several other...occupants. It was Ruby who chose to act how she did, so that nobody observing them would wonder why their apparel and hair was in such a tousled condition."

"So there wasn't anything going on between the two of them?"

"Not that night, and not for the entire trip," Nora confirmed.

Yang's head fell back to her pillow in relief.

"Neither one's smart enough to do it," Nora grumbled, prompting Yang to suddenly sit up straight again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She demanded.

"I mean that Jaune's hurting," Nora stared at the girl who was usually a friend. "I don't know what all went on between him and Pyrrha the night Beacon fell, but he hasn't been the same since. You saw them after the dance, you saw how sweet she was on him and how they were kind of working their way towards something special! He could really use someone to make him feel better about himself right now!"

"So that's all Ruby is to you, a bandage for Jaune's hurt?" Yang snarled. "What about her?"

"What about her?" Nora shot right back. "She's been hurting, too! Her team got ripped apart and she saw Pyrrha get turned into ashes, right in front of her! After that, you had your own hole to climb out of, so you weren't able to help her deal, while her uncle was tricking her into taking the trip. She admired General Ironwood, but everyone in Vale was saying that he led the attack. But when she asked for someone to go with her on her journey, Jaune stepped right up and we came along."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yang was now as confused as she was angry.

"Don't you think that Ruby would like to have someone to care for her in that way?" Nora gave a quick, subtle, sidelong glance at Ren as she said this. "Don't you think she's thinking something like, 'what a nice guy, he's always been there for me when I need him, so why can't we be together like that?' "

"It's not about him being a nice guy-" Yang argued, but Nora wasn't about to stop.

"And she can care for him the same way, hoping the best for him, even when he seems blind to what could be between them!"

"Uh, Nora..." Yang was getting a more confused.

"I mean, sure it seems to come out of nowhere," the hammer-wielder continued. "She starts to notice that he's kind of cute and even though they've been friends for so long, she starts to realize that being friends just isn't enough, not anymore."

Yang glanced at Ren, who refused to make eye contact and appeared to be examining the lower portions of the beds, wondering if he could fit underneath one of them.

"So she doesn't say anything," Nora continued, not noticing her companions' confused looks. "They're friends and she tries to convince herself that it's good enough! But every time they go through a city or a town, she sees the couples her age and they look like they're so happy...so she wonders, why can't that be us?"

"Nora..." Ren's efforts to interrupt her were unsuccessful.

"And she asks herself, is it something with me? I mean, she knows she has a few quirks that make people wonder at times, but she's not a bad person! She protects the innocent and stands with her friends. Maybe she isn't model material, but she knows she's cute, so why doesn't he seem to notice that?"

"Nora..." Yang didn't have any more luck breaking through than Ren.

"Oh, there's other guys around," she ran on. "Of course there are! They've noticed her and she's noticed them, but she's been with _him_ for so long that it's just hard thinking of another guy that way. Sure, the other guys may be cute, fun, hot...all of that; but will there be the connection, the chemistry that she has with him? Every time she thinks of another guy that way, she realizes that something...just won't be there! What's she supposed to do, settle for another guy? It wouldn't be fair to him or to her!"

"Nora!" Ren and Yang's combined effort had no more effect than their individual efforts.

"She's a huntress and lives a hard life!" Nora was really getting wound up. "All she wants at the end of the day is to be able to put her head on his shoulder, feel his arms go around her and _know_ that he loves her and wants her in every way, just like she loves and wants him! Is that too much to ask, to know that he's the guy for her and she's the girl for him, for the rest of their lives?"

NORA!" By combining their shouts, Yang and Ren managed to get her attention. She suddenly looked horrified.

"Where where is all of this coming from?" Yang demanded. "Did she tell you any of this?"

"No," Nora mumbled. "Just...guessing."

There was an uncomfortable silence between the three.

"We can assure you that there was no romantic interaction between Ruby and Jaune," Ren finally said, his voice carefully neutral. "We can also assure you that she was safe, well, and with trusted companions when we left her."

"So who brought you here?" Yang asked, although she was much more calm than she had been a few minutes ago.

"Weiss Schnee," Nora told her.

"Weiss is here?" Yang gasped. "In Mistral? I was working for her sister down in Kuchinashi!"

"I'm sure that Weiss will be happy to hear this," Ren mentioned. "We have certain suspicions that Winter should hear, as soon as possible."

"And dad will want to know about Ruby," Yang nodded, pulling out her scroll. "I'll send a text; he's doing certain things that may not give him time to talk."

There was silence for a short time, but it was now a companionable silence. A discrete knock on the door interrupted it.

"Folks, I heard some loud arguing," an orderly stepped into the room. "Will there be any problems with this roommate arrangement?"

"No," Yang told him. "We're old friends. We just had a little disagreement."

"It sounded like more than just a disagreement," he protested. "And it didn't sound little."

"We're huntresses," Yang informed him. "We get a little more vocal than most, but we're fine now. You should have seen the last disagreement we had; she knocked me through a roof with a watermelon on a pole."

"And just what brought that on?" He asked.

"I was trying to knock her out with a turkey on my fist."

"I trust we won't have a repeat of this?"

"Not any time soon," Yang assured him. "I'd rather stay with her than anyone else."

"Same here," Nora agreed.

Although the man looked ready to bolt in terror, he gamely stood his ground. "Miss Valkyrie, your other companions have asked to see you. Although it is past normal visitors' hours, they were insistent. If you do not wish to see them tonight, I will send them away. If you wish to see them, we can provide a wheelchair to take you..."

"Send 'em in!" Yang gushed. "Her friends are my friends!"

"You're certain about this?"

"You bet! It's been too long since I've seen Weiss!"

Again, the orderly looked nervous, but he manfully left, ostensibly to fetch Nora's visitors. A short time later, he reappeared, ushering Weiss and Ron, both wearing stunning formal wear, into the room.

"Weiss!" "Yang!" The two teammates shouted their surprised joy at seeing each other. Weiss made the mistake of rushing up to within Yang's reach, as the brawler quickly seized her into a crushing hug.

"Dust! It's so good to see you again," Yang murmured, while Weiss struggled to breath. "I've heard that there's been some major shakeups in the Schnee Dust Company, so you must be as tough in the boardroom as you are on the battlefield."

"Battlefields are easier," Weiss admitted, prying herself out of Yang's grip.

Yang exchanged a fist bump with Ron, "You clean up pretty good," she commented, then paused. "You both clean up pretty well. So did you head out to some party while Nora was in surgery? That's cold, guys."

"It depends on where they went," Ren murmured.

"What?" Yang looked between both pairs of her friends.

"Did you find anything out?" Nora asked them.

"No, but we got set up for something tomorrow morning," Weiss told her. "It just so happens that I was so impressed by the play that I'm considering becoming a patron of the arts. I'll be meeting with the theater's owner tomorrow morning to consider how best to do so. I'm going to want to get a look at this facility. You know, make sure that the utilities will support expansion and that the storage spaces are adequate, sufficiently secure, not subject to flooding and are safe from vermin."

" **Safe** from vermin?" Ron protested. "Vermin may come in handy. Speaking of which, we need to pick up some peanuts before the meeting."

"Peanuts?" Nora now looked confused. "Why peanuts?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you?" Weiss sighed. "But I may need to borrow Ren for this inspection."

"At what time?" The young man in question asked.

"The meeting's at ten, so I'll have a cab pick you up at nine."

"So late?" Nora asked. "I thought you'd want to move faster."

"I guess theater people don't like early mornings," she shrugged. "But how about you? The scroll report I got said that you'll have a complete, but slow, recovery."

"I can't really add anything more to that," Ren told her. "The doctors briefed me before she woke up." He got a slight smile on his face. "Were you really impressed with the play?"

"It would have been one of the best presentations available in Atlas," Weiss shrugged. "Here in Mistral, it's probably just a little above average. I hate to admit it, but the residents in Mistral have higher standards when it comes to performance art."

"Hold on," Yang interrupted. "What's going on? Why did you go to a play?"

"I wish we could talk about these things," Weiss told her. "But the mission we're on...Look, I can trust you but we're not supposed to tell anyone."

"How did things get this way?" It wasn't usual for Yang to sob, be she was clearly choking back such emotions right now. "We were a team and while we had some issues starting out, we were like sisters by the end! And Team JNPR! They were our best friends at Beacon, ready to walk through fire to back us up! Now, we're keeping secrets from each other!"

"I wish I knew," Weiss told her. "We're keeping secrets from Flynt and Neon, as well. Oh, by the way, Ron and I teamed up with them."

"So nice to hear," Yang clearly didn't mean it. "Okay, I'll tell you a bit of truth, after that, will you tell me something? I don't need any deep secrets, I just want to know that you're actually on some sort of...righteous...mission."

"I'll try," Weiss nodded to her.

Yang looked meaningfully at the door until Ron walked to it and looked outside. He offered everyone a nod. Yang leaned over her bed's rail, towards Nora, who did the same. With Weiss and Ren close by, she could speak in a low voice.

"The news service is saying that there was a major conflict in Kuchinashi," Yang told them. "It was an all-out invasion by the White Fang. We fought them off, but we burned through nearly all of our dust and took heavy losses. Headmaster Lionheart continues to urge hunters to go to the north, he pressures students who were at Beacon to not tell the truth about Atlas and according to the soldiers who were at the battle, he's telling the rest of the council that they need to keep more soldiers in Windhaven. By the way, your sister was at the battle, helping Colonel Arvaken."

"Winter's well?" Weiss' face suddenly showed more hope, and concern, than it had for days.

"She was when I was put on the train for the trip here," Yang smiled at her friend. "She's working hard, and I don't know if we would have held without her. Now, what can you tell me?"

"We're tracking a special bomb," Weiss admitted. "Your sister and her friends were trailing two of them. One was set off, we disabled one at sea, but the last one is probably in this city..."

"And hidden in the theater you visited," Yang interrupted, making a show of smacking herself on the forehead. "So why didn't you try to find it tonight?"

"We think there are people observing it," Weiss told her. "If they see us poking around, they may detonate it. Also, if it's someplace else and some watcher sees us digging through the place..."

"They'll know you're looking for it," Yang concluded. "So you're giving yourself a plausible reason to dig through the theater. So what happens tomorrow?"

"If we find it, we grab it, fast," Weiss told her. "I don't care if we wind up going to jail for destroying private property. We can't risk it being moved or detonated."

"Or Torchwick either getting here or getting word to whomever is watching it," Nora added.

"Torchwick?" Yang asked. "He's dead."

"He did not stay that way," the normally stoic Ren shuddered. "But if he succeeds in setting off the bomb, nobody in Mistral is safe."

"And that's why they want to borrow you!" Yang blurted out. Turning to Weiss, she added, "you need all the help you can get."

"The odds are against us," Weiss agreed. "But we have to try."

"This is what I find the most distressing," Ren pointed out. "We did not even complete our first year at Beacon, yet now the fate of Remnant lies in our hands. How did this come to pass?"

"It's because we're so young," Ron's voice sounded from the door. The other four stared at him as, in a bitter voice, he continued. "The bad guys always make plans for the powerful. They look at the world's militaries and police forces, but they never think of a couple of naive kids creeping through a ventilation duct. So when the people who are supposed to keep us safe fail, it's up to those of us who are too small to be noticed to do the job...no matter what it costs us. Besides, who cares that we haven't had the chance to really live yet?"

* * *

One thing that was nice about working with Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen, they never asked questions just for the sake of hearing their voices. When Winter summoned them for the night time insertion, they didn't ask why, they simply showed up, ready for action. When they climbed on the airship; a clearly Atlesian vehicle and flight crew, they didn't ask for details, knowing that Winter would provide such information. Instead, Raven simply looked bored while Taiyang pulled out a crystal and started to work on one of his shins. Once in the air, Winter addressed the two.

"Although it seems unnecessary, I must now inform you that this is a highly secretive mission. I suspect that the White Fang has spies, perhaps even informants in Kuchinashi's population." The two simply looked at her, their expressions unreadable. "In that case, let me cross-load files to your scrolls."

The two dutifully held up their devices, and Winter first loaded the proper petitions into them and then accessed hers. "You see here a point roughly fifteen kilometers southeast of Kuchinashi. A long range patrol, put in place prior to the recent siege, just reported in. They were driven from the area by White Fang and grimm. The grimm did not attack the White Fang."

Again, these two older people didn't discuss the meaning, knowing fully well that it suggested an alliance between the White Fang and someone with the ability to influence grimm. Winter then handed them each a set of night vision goggles. Both simply nodded and put the devices on, familiar with the features.

"Our mission is to confirm or refute this cooperation," she continued, her voice businesslike. "If possible, determine whomever is behind this alliance and of course, should the opportunity present itself..."

"Terminate whomever is orchestrating the attacks," Taiyang's voice held equal parts boredom and disgust. "The councils and the headmasters don't much like competition when it comes to force, do they?"

"Just what's that supposed to mean?" Winter demanded. "I'll remind you, Mr. Xiao Long, that even though you are not a soldier under my command, you are still a specialist in my employ, and that means proper respect and obedience!"

"It means that I'll do what I'm ordered to do," the slightly older man shrugged. "I can respect the lien, even if I don't respect whomever is providing it."

"And what makes you question the councils?" Winter's voice was even more indignant and her had crept close to her saber.

"Oh, the fact that you had children following horror weapons," he shrugged his shoulders again.

"Where did you learn this?"

"Wow! Not even a denial! That must have hit close to home!" Taiyang smirked at the fuming officer. "I received a text from someone I won't name...and by the way, I've already deleted the text and overwritten the file, so don't think you're gonna off me and get it from my scroll. Anyway, one of these bombs went off and completely destroyed the town of BatiKiyisi...just as the Atlesian Air Fleet was flying overhead. It seems that happened the night we were fighting off the White Fang." Taiyang offered Winter, who was now visibly shaken, a cruel grin. "That's what the plan was, wasn't it? Atlas was going to swoop in to the rescue in the nick of time, making all Mistral happy and grateful. It didn't work, the air fleet was wiped out."

"General Ironwood..." Winter gasped.

"That's why you had children following the bombs, wasn't it?" He bore in, relentlessly. "You didn't want to just eliminate them, you wanted to grab them for Atlas, didn't you? Well, you succeeded. Your own sister grabbed one from a ship at sea, and now the Atlas Science Academy is working on it. Pretty soon, Atlas is going to have a stockpile of them!"

"No..." Winter's voice was much less sure. "We didn't know how powerful they were and the political considerations...if we attempted to seize these weapons in the kingdom and it detonated.."

"Seems they were outside of the kingdom for weeks," Tai wasn't giving up. "Why not move then?"

"It would have caused friction between the kingdoms..." Winter murmured. "If Atlas had descended upon one of the lake towns...Mistral's council might have considered it an act of aggression."

"So you let teenagers track these weapons, as well as the master criminal that was moving them!" Taiyang snarled. "When were you going to let me know that my youngest daughter was tracking weapons that could destroy an entire city **AND** a master criminal that even the kingdoms' police forces couldn't bring in?"

"It was classified!" She snapped back.

"Classified," he snorted. "Isn't that convenient?"

"Your opinions mean nothing right now!" Winter quickly regained her composure. "There's still a bomb out there!"

"Oh, so you even knew how many were in play," Tai offered her a false smile. "Don't worry, your dear little sister is working on the last one, right now."

"Weiss? But if she fails..."

"Gee," Taiyang snorted. "I guess you're not as dedicated as I thought! You'll send teenagers on suicide missions but when it's your own sister at risk, suddenly you're a humanitarian!"

"Where is she!" Winter demanded, a hand now on her hilt.

"That's classified," Tai sneered at her. "Besides, we're over the drop zone, so don't you think we better focus on our own mission?"

With a phenomenal act of will, Winter pulled her hand away from her hilt...without drawing the weapon...and turned to the task at hand. The aircraft killed its engine, going into a momentary free fall. The three hunters jumped from the aircraft at the appropriate point, several hundred feet above the ground. Above them, the pilot engaged the engine, so that any observers would think that an aircraft had suffered momentary engine trouble, and increased altitude.

While Winter used a series of glyphs to slow her fall, Taiyang and Raven used a strategy that they had worked out long ago. Taiyang simply allowed himself to drop, unimpeded, until he was only a few feet above the ground. With the forest floor rushing up at him, the unleashes a aura-augmented blow downward, both slowing himself and unleashing a powerful shock-wave for anyone who may be lurking nearby. Raven formed two portals; the first lifted her slightly higher, delaying her fall while the second relocated her and changed the direction she was moving. She arrived on the ground shortly after Taiyang and his shock-wave, tumbling off the momentum and coming to a halt nearly back-to-back with her former teammate. A few moments later, Winter arrived on the site. Seeing that the two were in a guarded posture she couldn't improve upon, she offered a tight nod and led the way.

Their landing point had been on a slope, just below the crest. They quickly went uphill and over the ridge line, traveling perpendicular to the linear terrain features. After checking their back trail on the reverse slope of the ridge, they crossed the valley to the paralleling ridge and followed it, again keeping just below the crest. For the next two hours they continued along this path, alternating between rapid movement and stationary observation. With sunup just a half-hour away, they were in position.

Winter camouflaged her head with grasses and twigs before peering over the ridge line and into their target area. Taiyang lashed small branches to his body and climbed a tree, high enough that he could look over the ridge. Raven, on the other hand, kept a close eye on their immediate surroundings, making sure that no foe would come upon them while the other two were focused on matters farther away. Winter used a petition on her scroll to enhance her vision, while Taiyang pulled a set of binoculars from one of his pouches.

The target was a broad valley with thick cover. Winter had known that they might need to creep in closer, but she wanted to perform a thorough observation from a distance before making such a decision. For several hours, she and Taiyang dutifully swept the area with their eyes, seeing nothing more than furtive movements in the trees. Halfway between sunup and noon, solid motion, screened by the forest, approached the northern edge of the cover. Taiyang caught his breath.

Back on Patch, after hearing Ruby's stories about the fall of beacon, he had pulled records of all of the Haven teams and had studied the faces of Cinder's team. The young woman who emerged, with a decided limp, from the forest had a scarred face, but he easily recognized Cinder Fall.

"Winter," he murmured.

"I see her," the officer informed him.

"Checking the rest of the area," he whispered back.

While Winter kept her distant eye upon Cinder, Tai swept the rest of the valley, looking for anything that might be using Cinder as a distraction. Suddenly, Winter's slight intake of breath brought his attention back to the woman who had caused the deaths of so many. He focused on the area just in time to see the second of a line of goliaths emerge from the forest in their deceptively rapid amble. A subtle movement at Cinder's shoulder caused him to focus more upon her, to see a jellyfish grimm hovering next to her.

As he watched, Cinder nodded towards the seer, almost a bow, before turning back to the line of goliaths still trudging from the forests. She approached one, which gently lifted her with its trunk and placed her on its back. Tai kept counting the monstrous grim as they continued to file out of the forest. It wasn't lost on him that they were heading northwest.

Directly towards Kuchinashi.

* * *

"Ah, Miss Schnee, such a pleasure to meet you," the man who rose from behind a hastily cleaned desk was slender, pale, and sported a mustache that demonstrated hours of attention. His office was cluttered, which Weiss did not hold against him; she had met with small businessmen before, and assumed that a theater probably wasn't terribly different from contracting.

"The pleasure is mine, Mr..." she prompted, dialing up her 'coldly professional' expression.

"Yonetmen," the man told her. "But please, feel free to call me Evre."

"Very well, Evre, I must thank you for meeting me on such short notice."

"Won't you please be seated," he gestured, grandly, to a highly cushioned chair that had clearly been moved to his office from one of the luxury boxes. "When the heiress to one of Remnant's most influential corporations wishes to meet with the head of a humble theater, the theater head makes the time! I wasn't expecting you to be accompanied, so I fear I didn't obtain chairs for your companions. It will only take a moment."

"I would appreciate it," Weiss nodded. "The seating need not be elaborate, as I don't think that we will be here very long."

A short parade of emotions...relief, dismay and confusion, played about the man's face as he asked a stagehand to fetch a couple more chairs. After that, he quickly scampered behind his desk to face his visitors. "So, Miss Schnee, may I ask what brings you here today?"

"Business both personal and corporate," she told him, taking the offered chair. "I attended your play last night and enjoyed it enormously. Last night, I started to think, wouldn't it be nice if more people could enjoy such entertainment? I'm very interested in providing some financial backing for your theater, in return for certain compensation, of course."

"W...W...What sort of compensation would that be?"

Weiss had to swallow the smile that threatened to burst on her face. She could clearly see the lien symbols flashing in the man's eyes.

"Nothing extravagant," she assured him, her voice cold and calculating. "I would simply like to see the phrase 'sponsored by the Schnee Family' under 'The Forgotten Evening', on your marquee, as well as any visual advertising. I would also like to hear the phrase, perhaps as an afterthought, in your audible advertising."

"Th-th-that sounds reasonable," he licked his lips nervously.

"Of course, this is more than just a rich girl's whim," now her voice was almost dreamy. "I wish to sponsor good feelings towards my families company, here in Mistral. Perhaps this will even help ease some of the tensions between our two kingdoms."

"Of course," he paused as a couple of burly stagehands showed up with some padded chairs, for Ren and Ron. Once the men were out of the office, he brought up the question that must have been threatening to burn its way out of his head.

"I-i-if I'm not to bold to ask, just what sort of grant...or investment...are you considering?"

"That will depend upon the next few hours," she told him. "I would like to see this facility expanded, so that more people can see your work...and of course see my generous patronage. I want to take a close look at your facility, see the foundations of the building, the utilities and the condition overall." She fixed him with her stern expression. "I have other theaters that I am considering, and I assure you that an owner who is forthcoming in showing me his faults is going to receive a great deal more consideration than someone who tries to hide them."

"Er...of course," he ran a finger along the inside of his collar. "I'll admit that we could use some more maintenance..."

"There's never enough budget to take care of everything," Weiss commiserated. "As I said before, I value honesty more than anything. I want to see every inch of your facility before I make a commitment."

"Everything?" He showed a great deal of nervousness.

"We won't barge into the dressing rooms to catch anyone naked," she told him. "Nor will we disrupt any rehearsals or other preparations. However, I want to see every room, every wall for myself."

"W-w-why?"

"I provided a grant to a school for disadvantaged children back in Mantle," Weiss told him. "The director was less than honest about the status of his facility and a leak through a wall doused a crate full of new scrolls we were going to give to the children. Thousands of lien were wasted when a simple repair, costing a few hundred, would have prevented that leak. I no longer patronize that facility, Mr. Yonetmen."

"Oh...of course," he dabbed at his now sweating face with a handkerchief. "I...hope you will understand that I have...certain appointments...that I must keep. I may not be available for your entire...tour."

"I understand," Weiss' stern expression belied her words. "However, I will require full access. If one of your stagehands or other employees can provide me with such, it will be sufficient."

"I'll be happy to provide this," Evre assured her. "In fact, w-why don't I get someone right now? I'll be right back!" The man rushed from his office.

For a few moments, the three younger people just looked at each other.

"Of course, you realize that there's something here that he doesn't want you to find," Ren murmured to the other two.

"I know," Weiss hissed back. "But is he even aware of the bomb...if it's here? I'm not interested in busting him for some magic mushrooms or smuggled wine."

"The bomb is heavy," Ron reminded them. "If he tries to move it, it's going to take some serious effort."

"So we keep our eyes and ears open," Weiss nodded.

"And get some more eyes as soon as we can." Ron added.

Ren seemed about to question the last statement, but suddenly and quickly waved the other two to silence. Mr. Yonetmen returned just as he returned his hand to a resting position. A skinny teenager followed the theater owner.

"This is Acemi," Evre informed the teens. The indicated young man offered first a slight wave, and then a slight bow. "He is a grip here, and I have just given him keys to the entire facility. He will let you into any room you wish...although..."

"Although?" Weiss prompted the sweating man.

"Although he hasn't been everywhere," he informed her. "I hope you understand that it might take him a few minutes to find the right key...now and then."

"Understood," Weiss informed the older man. "So, if our guide might experience some inefficiency, can we makeup for it by starting immediately?"

"Of course," Evre nodded. "Acemi, show our guests every courtesy." Nervous as he was, the theater owner still managed to give his employee a stern and intimidating glare."

"I-if you'll follow me," the boy offered, his squeaky voice belaying his nervousness. He scampered out of the office and down a hallway, his rapid pace forcing Weiss and her companions to rush to catch up. He course took them to a cramped, spiral staircase, behind the stage, that went both up and down into darkness. Acemi descended the stairs for about two full revolutions before stopping and seeming to grope blindly in the dark. A click, followed by dim illumination, made it clear that he had been searching for a light switch. Another two revolutions of the stairway brought them to the bottom. Weiss noted that the floor was concrete and a cinder-block wall was on one side of them.

"Is this the bottom floor of the building?" she demanded of the boy.

"Y-yes, Miss Schnee."

"How far down are we?"

"I think we're eight meters below ground level, Miss Schnee."

"I didn't mean in distance," Weiss snapped at him. "I meant stories!"

"W-we're in the lowest basement, Miss Schnee," he answered. "Th-there's two basement levels, Miss Schnee."

"You don't have to end every sentence with Miss Schnee," she coldly informed him.

"Er, sorry, Miss Schnee."

Weiss rolled her eyes slightly and addressed her companions. "I have the building's outline loaded into my scroll and I locked our lateral position before we came down the stairs. I'll fill in every point we check, so we will know when we've seen everything. Since we're at the back wall, let's start by following the right hand wall until we've checked everything."

The sub-basement had very few locked doors, so the search went fairly rapidly. One of the few locked rooms was the utility room, containing the facility's lightning dust panel and the entry points for the water and sewer pipes. Weiss asked Acemi the capacity of all three, which he didn't know. Looking at him coldly, she noted this in her scroll and photographed them all. The air throughout this level was damp and musty; there were several sump pumps in operation and occasionally one of them would activate. The items stored down here were either not valuable or resistant to water, such as candles, stone props, and buckets of paint and lubricants. To one side, they found a conventional stairway, a wide, wooden structure good for hauling bulky loads to and from storage, up to the basement level. As they poked about, Weiss noted that Ron would pay frequent attention to the nooks and crannies behind shelving units or other obstructions. At these times, he would often slip some peanuts out of his pocket...even though he never ate them. Finally, they were done with the sub-basement and Weiss noted a certain, self-satisfied smirk on Ron's face as they climbed the spiral staircase to the basement.

The back section of the basement was dedicated to the stage; containing trap doors and apparatus that allowed performers and props to be quickly shuttled onto the stage itself. Acemi was very familiar with this portion of the theater, and asked if they could inspect this section first.

"The actors aren't rehearsing yet, Miss Schnee," he answered, in response to Weiss' demand to know why. "So this area isn't being used yet. In a few hours, we'll be rehearsing and the grips and hands will be working here."

"I don't care if they have to..." Weiss informed him, only to be interrupted by Ron.

"That's a good idea," Ron told the boy. He threw an arm over the nervous grip's shoulders. "That way, we can check out the area with nobody in the way, and by the time they need it, we're out from under their feet."

"Well, I..."

"See, he's trying to help us get the job done," he told the heiress. "Let's get at it."

"Why are you acting like his old friend?" Weiss whispered to the Earth-man, when she had the chance to get him away from the grip. "I'm trying to keep him off balance."

"Keeping him off balance isn't the issue," Ron whispered back, looking between a series of backdrops. "It's his boss you need to keep off balance. The kid's terrified of you, and Ren's too close-mouthed to make him relax. If I act like his friend, he might let something slip."

"That kid is no younger than I am," she protested, while looking inside some hollow props. "Why would he be scared of me? Nobody at Beacon was."

"Age means more than years," he informed her, now looking through the lifting mechanisms. "The Beacon students were student hunters, teens with years of combat training who were studying to fight bandits and grimm. This kid doesn't have that. He's an ordinary person doing a job. You've already got his boss intimidated, and that's going to scare him. Not to mention, you've got a lot of financial and political power, and you're very pretty. That's scary for a plain and average person."

Weiss bit her lip and continued to search the under-stage area, watching as Ren and Ron examined the walls, as well as anything large enough to hold the bomb. Weiss was pretty sure that they wouldn't find it here, as there was too much activity in this place for someone to want to stash something that dangerous and valuable. Still, they had to make the effort and work within their cover story. She was also more affected than she'd like to admit by Ron's comment about her being pretty. Shaking that thought out of her head, she concentrated on the matter at hand, examining the floor for warped wood, dry rot, or anything out of the ordinary...even though she really didn't know what ordinary was.

They eventually finished the under stage area and moved into the section under the audience's seating. Here, they had to rely on Acemi's keys; as there were numerous rooms, filled with the more valuable props and costumes. As such, many of the rooms were locked. Weiss payed closer attention, as this level, and this section of it, had the best chance of holding the bomb. They passed the occasional stagehand and grip, shuttling props and building materials here and there. The stagehands gave them some hard looks as they searched the workshop...but found nothing. Weiss also noted a wide, sturdy ramp that led from the workshop to the outside, allowing bulk materials to be easily brought to where the hands could shape them. She caught Ron and Ren's attention before giving a wide, bay door a pointed look. The two responded with almost imperceptible nods; they understood that if the bomb were in the theater, it would probably be somewhere along the path of the wide passageways.

The workshop provided her with nothing other than dirty looks from several of the stagehands. Weiss didn't care, she wasn't here to make friends with them, she was here to save their lives. However, she spotted Ron suddenly crouch down low behind a table saw. While there was nowhere near the room needed to hide the bomb behind the powerful cutting tool, her breath caught when she saw him pull an entire handful of peanuts from his pocket and place them in the confined space. The look of grim satisfaction on his face when he stood told her all she needed to know...but they needed to keep with their story for as long as possible...keep any potential watchers from acting until it was too late.

Now that they had checked out the workshop, they walked through the wide passageway leading back towards the area under the stage. Immediately outside of the workshop, there was a small area to the right, screened off with temporary folding partitions. Ron discretely nudged her with his shoulder and squinted his eyes toward that location.

"What's this?" Weiss asked of their guide. "Are you blocking off some area to keep me from seeing it?"

"No!" Acemi almost squeaked the denial. "This is just a little space that the stagehands have set up to take their breaks in!"

"Well, we check there next!" Weiss declared, then stormed in through a gap in the partitions.

"But..." The grip protested, weakly, as she entered the somewhat cramped area, followed by her two companions. She immediately recognized such a place; as the heiress, she had accompanied her father on several surprise inspections of Schnee Dust Company facilities. Much as Atlesian factory workers, the Mistralean theater workers had taken some unused space and provided it with some modest furnishings, so they could take their breaks and eat their meals with a modicum of comfort. A burly man and woman started up from their mismatched chairs around a makeshift table.

"What!?" The man grumbled.

"Your employer, Mr. Yonetmen, has given me leave to inspect this entire building," Weiss informed the two, her voice imperious and to the point. "And I need to see the entire floor. Ron, see what's under the table."

"You can't come in here like this!" The woman protested. Weiss fixed her with a stern look and noticed that she looked shocked and almost frightened.

"Actually, we can," Weiss insisted. "Ron..."

The table in question was a rectangular mass, covered by a piece of white canvas. Ron went to one side and pulled up the canvas, revealing the side of a sturdy, wooden crate. This crate had been recently painted. The blonde man held up his right hand, which suddenly held something that appeared to be a file. Weiss placed herself between Ron and the protesting stagehand while he scraped at the wood. In the center of the wood, black paint gave way to dark green, with a yellow symbol.

"This is it!" Ron hissed, now holding a sword instead of a file.

"Go!" Weiss commanded.

The woman who had been arguing tried to barge her way past Weiss to get to Ron. Weiss allowed herself a moment of sympathy; this other woman was considerably larger than her as well as quite muscular from her strenuous life. It was perfectly reasonable for her to expect that when she shoved someone of Weiss' size, the smaller woman would be sent stumbling away.

She had no way of knowing that the 'pampered socialite' would grab her wrist, pivot on one foot while tripping her with the other and leave her flat on her face. She fumbled in a pocket and Weiss, guessing what was about to happen, slapped her wrist with the flat of Myrtenaster's blade. When she withdrew the hand, the heiress held the rapier's point a hands-breadth from her arm, ordering her to not move.

Seeing the altercation, the man leaped forward to defend his coworker. Ren intercepted him, driving a foot into his gut and then a knee into his chin. He fell to his back, sending crude chairs tumbling about the small space. The crashing sounds of the short fight, the yelling and Acemi's loud and plaintive demands to know what was going on were answered by angry yells and heavy footfalls from the workshop. Using her off-hand, she formed a glyph in the partition gap, which the oncoming workmen ran into.

"Everyone! Stay still and remain calm! This will all be over with in a few minutes!" She yelled, but her best 'command voice' didn't carry over the confused and angry roars of the stagehands. Unable to force their way through the glyph, they simply knocked over the partition and rushed around it.

"Ren, we need to hold them off!" She roared at the reluctant young man.

She actually felt some sympathy for her friend; the young man was a student huntsman so the idea of drawing a weapon on unarmed innocents went against everything that Beacon had taught him. He was their defender, not their attacker. Unfortunately, they simply didn't have the luxury of being kind. If these stagehands, who probably thought they were defending their coworkers, managed to interrupt Ron, it could be disastrous.

She caught a break in that the first man to rush around the glyph and over the fallen partition was wielding a large crescent wrench. His weapon, crude as it was, provided enough to prompt Ren into drawing Stormflower. The young man didn't attack with the blades; instead, he used them to direct the powerful swing away from him, buried a knee up under the stagehand's rib-cage and when this forced the husky man back, caught him in the chin with a heel. Another man came on, lashing out with a fist. Ren ducked the blow, spun, and kicked the assailant behind the knees.

Taking her cue from Ren, Weiss gave her downed opponent what she hoped was an intimidating slap with the flat of her blade, dispersed her glyph and formed an ice sheet under the oncoming group. Another glyph launched her through their midst, spinning to strike with the flat of her blade. The half-dozen or so men and women were sent sprawling. Without a hunters' training, they did not land gracefully. Spinning around, Weiss was heartened to see that Ron had hacked through both the wooden crate and the side of the bomb, and was now cutting inside, hopefully chopping the wires that could detonate the thing. She was much less heartened to see her first opponent reaching back into her pocket.

"Move, Ron!" She snapped, launching herself towards the woman once again.

The woman got the scroll out of her pocket, but Weiss grabbed her wrist before she could open the device. The heiress slammed her hilt down on the offending hand, three times before the larger woman released the device to drop to the ground. However, the stagehand got a hold of Weiss' hair and yanked her off balance. For all that she wasn't a skilled fighter, the burly woman proved to be a very skilled brawler. She used her superior size and strength to keep Weiss tangled up and close to her while struggling to her feet. Despite the urgency of the situation, Weiss found that she couldn't bring herself to skewer her opponent. After some scuffling and scrambling, she managed to drive Myrtenaster's hilt into the bigger woman's jaw, dropping her to the ground again.

By this time, most of the hands who had been knocked sprawling were climbing back to their feet. Weiss grabbed her opponent's scroll, sure that there would be incriminating contacts; perhaps even petitions, to be found. Of course, she wouldn't be the one finding them. She sighed in relief when Ron pulled an oddly shaped aluminum mass from the casing.

"We're not done yet," he warned her. "Until I get the sphere away from the explosives...accidents could happen. Moving more delicately, he cut through the aluminum at one end of the package.

"What's going on here?" One of the hands demanded.

"My companion is disabling a bomb," Weiss told the surly crowd. Mutters of disbelief answered her. Deliberately, the silver-haired girl held up her own scroll and activated a petition she had prepared the previous night. Unknown to the angry group of theater workers, several events happened in response to this action.

First, a call was placed to the Mistral City Police Agency, informing them of the bomb found in The Forgotten Evening. The call assured the stunned officer answering the call that those who had uncovered the device would not resist arrest, and urged him to instruct the officers dispatched to the facility to treat the bomb as if it were highly toxic.

Secondly, a call was placed to the local Schnee Dust Company office, requesting that they hire capable lawyers to represent Weiss Schnee, Ron Stoppable, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.

Finally, a call was placed to the Atlesian Embassy, informing the staff of the events that had taken place. Shortly after this, the Atlesian Embassy used the Schnee Communications Dirigible to inform Atlesian Military Intelligence that the last bomb had been neutralized, and the remains would shortly be in Mistralean hands.

Even had they known of these actions, the gathered hands and grips wouldn't have been happy.

"I have called the police," Weiss told the angry crowd. If someone will be so kind as to let them in and show them here when they arrive, my companions and I will surrender our weapons once they are present.

Their guide left to do just as they said. The remaining theater employees relaxed...just a little. Then one of them noticed something that he wasn't expecting.

"I don't see any wine in that box, Sinsi." The man who had initially fought Ren growled to the woman Weiss had incapacitated.

"What's this?" Weiss demanded.

"According to her," he gestured with his chin towards the woman who was struggling to a kneeling position. "That crate was full of wine from Vacuo...you know, the really expensive kind that the upper classes would fork over lien by the shovelful to get. We were all supposed to get a cut of the take for storing it here. I don't know if that's a bomb or not, but it sure doesn't look like wine."

The standoff became a little less hostile, but was still tense, when the first of the police arrived. At a shared nod, Weiss, Ren and Ron all set down their weapons and offered no resistance. As the cuffs closed around her wrists behind her back, the heiress could only hope that she had made the right decisions.

* * *

Twelve hours later, Weiss came to the conclusion that she had made the correct decisions, but that the correct path wasn't always a pleasant one. The Mistral Police had been understandably tense when they rushed into the theater and arrested the student hunters. Of course, she, Ren and Ron had been separated and questioned, long and harshly, individually. Fortunately, they had decided to tell the complete truth before setting foot in the theater that morning. Any false story, no mater how carefully fabricated, would have surely unraveled under the relentless questions and constant suggestions that the other two were selling her out.

The interrogators laughed at her, threatened her, even sympathized with her at times. Her story about bombs...and a boy...who had popped into Remnant from another world sounded far fetched, as did a bomb that could level an entire city. The Mistraleans were convinced that Atlas had leveled BatiKiyisi and was somehow using this story of a bomb in Mistral to justify further intervention...or at least that's one of the stories they told her. With no scroll, no watch and no clock on the wall, Weiss had no way of knowing how much time had gone by. It must have been hours when suddenly, her questioners were called out of the room. For several, long minutes, she remained alone in the room; trying to keep her composure and wondering if she was ever going to get out. Then a small horde of people walked in.

"Miss Schnee," her head interrogator was suddenly very polite. "It seems you were telling the truth all along."

She maintained her imperious bearing, suspecting a trick, until she recognized the Atlesian Ambassador as one of those who was now in her interrogation chamber. Despite her best efforts, she slumped with relief. Moments later, she was with Ron and Ren and the questions were much more polite.

"It all seemed a tall tale," one of the policemen told her. Then our bomb expert gave us some conclusions.

"We aren't as technologically advanced as Atlas," a middle-aged man informed her. "But there is no art without science, just like there's not science without art, so we're not completely ignorant. First year university physics says that there is nothing more dense than gold...but whatever makes up that sphere and the cylinder are. The explosives that surrounded the sphere are more powerful than anything I've run into. After that, your company provided me with the means to have a very long conversation with a Dr. Physiker, from the Atlas Academy."

"Where are the sphere and cylinder now?" Ron asked. "They're dangerous."

"At our own university," the head of police told him. "With a half-dozen physicists drooling over them while exchanging notes with Physiker."

"Just as well," Weiss nodded. "Let both kingdoms have the means of creating one of the horror weapons, so nobody has the monopoly."

"We're still on alert for a possible attack by Atlas," another man, who was later identified as a council member, added. "But we no longer suspect you of being part of it. In fact, we owe you a great deal of gratitude."

"And we found out that you're moving relief supplies to BatiKiyisi," Yet another man informed her. "We can't spare an airship to confirm the destruction, but we're sending a couple of agents via lake ship to take a look. You've done a good job and prevented what could have been something horrific."

After that came another round of questions, every bit as lengthy as her initial battery. However, this time she was with Ron and Ren and the questions were polite. The officials were now after knowledge rather than trying to prove a falsehood, but there was a lot of knowledge to transfer. All parties agreed to keep Ron's origins secret until such time that it could be presented to the public in a believable manner. It was very, very late at night before the police released the three and gave them a ride to the hospital. Nora and Yang were asleep, so she and Ron left Ren at his room and caught a ride to the luxury hotel.

The rooms had been ransacked by the police, of course, but it was clear that they had made an effort to return everything to normal. The communicator device was on her desk, the antenna coiled neatly next to it. Going through the furnishings, she realized that her belongings had been searched...the police had admitted as much...but had then been put back in an orderly fashion. When Ron opened the door between the two suites and trudged to his own rooms, she realized that she wasn't finished with the day's tasks.

Her friend was hurting more than ever.

She was tired and filthy. She wanted nothing more than to draw a bath and soak the grime from poking through the theater away, then crawl into bed and sleeping until noon. However, she wouldn't let Ron face the night in his dejected state, no matter how tired or dirty she was. She contended herself with washing her face and removing the tiara from her hair before she knocked at the door adjoining the two rooms.

She heard his muted response, even though she couldn't make out his words. Assuming that he wouldn't mind if she came in, she did so, to see that he was sitting on one of the desk chairs, the Lotus Blade on the desk and his head in his hands. As she approached, he lifted his face and his red eyes told her that he had been holding things together while in public. The harsh interrogation couldn't have helped but now, alone, he was facing the consequences of his actions.

Suddenly, she didn't know how to proceed. She wanted to let him know that although he couldn't go back home, he could make a home here. What words could she say that would bring him out of his despair?

"You did it, Ron," she finally told him. "The bombs are all gone and Mistral and Atlas are actually talking again. It's started with law enforcement and scientists, but it should spread."

He only nodded.

"Look, I...I can't understand what you're feeling," she confessed. "I just know that it must be rough. I just wanted you to know that you're not alone in all of this. You've touched so many lives in your short time on Remnant, you've already helped so many people. I know it's not the life you wanted, but so many of us will be honored to share our lives with you.

"I know," he whispered. "I know that I should be grateful. I keep trying to count my blessings. I landed alive and well when I came here, I met friends right away. I wound up getting to the one place that had a chance to send me back. I found kindly people who helped me every step of the way." He swallowed and tears started to trickle down his cheeks. "But I can't help but think of my parents, my sister, Rufus, Monique, Felix and...KP. I'll never see any of them again...they'll never see me again...and I never even had the chance to say goodbye."

"Are they sad?" He asked. "Have they given me up for dead? Are they moving on with their lives? Should I try to move on with mine?"

"I can't answer you," she admitted, a tear of her own finding its way down her cheek. "All I can say is that you're here, now. No matter how much you beat yourself up about the situation, you're not going to make there's any better."

"So live and enjoy myself?" He sounded angry.

"Only if it feels right for you," she told him. "I can't tell you how to live your life. I can only say that I want to be part of that life and I'm here for you."

"There's a story from my religion," he told her. "I...I don't know if I believe or not, but there was a great man, a flawed man, who led my people out of bondage. Our God had promised us a land to live in and this great but flawed man led them there, but because of his disobedience, he was not allowed to enter the promised land." Ron took a deep breath. "I wonder if that's me. I wonder what I did wrong, that I was able to come so close to the life I wanted, then be pulled away."

"What happened to this leader?" Weiss asked him.

"When he was close to death, God led him to the peak of a mountain and allowed him to look into the promised land, so that he would know that even though he couldn't enter, the people he had led through such trying times were now there."

"I'm no God," Weiss told him, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet. "But that sounds like a good idea. Come here."

Weiss led him to the room's balcony. Mistral had been founded on a cliff-side, where the earliest inhabitants would be safe from the grimm. Over the centuries, the city had expanded and now extended far beyond the slopes, but the oldest and highest sections were the most coveted. As a Schnee, it was expected that Weiss would secure lodgings at a high class hotel, one that was high on the cliff-side She stepped out onto the balcony, drawing Ron with her, and gestured outward and down.

Close to midnight, the City of Mistral could be seen as a blanket of lights. Thousands of lights, from dim illumination from shaded windows, to gaudy marquees, to utilitarian street and security lights shone up at the young couple looking down at the city.

"I want you to remember this," Weiss murmured to him, stepping close and resting her head against his chest. "When you remember those you left behind, I want you to remember seeing all of these lights and know that all of those people are there because of you. You were the one who let General Ironwood know how dangerous the bombs were. It was because you gave up your world that I'm still here, and that Mistral is still here. Even though they don't know it, all of those people are alive now because of you giving up the life you wanted to live."

Ron's shoulders trembled as he fought to keep his composure. "It's beautiful," he admitted. "It's worth being the only Earth man on Remnant...but it's still a lonely feeling."

"You're not alone, Ron," she murmured to him. Caught up in powerful, but confusing emotions, she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. Slowly, hesitantly, his arms slid around her shoulders.

"You've got..." she tried to assure him that not only she, but their teammates and other friends would be there for him, but her words died when she looked up at him; he was looking at her and their faces were very close.

She didn't know which of them moved first, or if they moved at the same time. She only knew that his large, Earth nose meant that she had to tilt her head a little more than she had expected, but his wide, Earth mouth gave her plenty of space to plant her own upon. His lips were hot against hers, opening slightly and prompting her to do the same. Their tongues met and slid along each other as they explored each others mouth.

He pulled back slightly, prompting her to release his waist and wrap her arms around his neck. It was unnecessary; he had only pulled back so that he could catch his breath. His mouth returned to hers, only now her hands were tangled in his hair, making sure he didn't go anywhere.

She was tired, but not that tired. As he slid his mouth off of hers and worked on her neck, she knew where this was going to lead...and she welcomed it. Maybe this was just a burst of adrenaline and emotion from disabling the bombs. Maybe later they would regret doing this, but right now, she knew she would regret it more if they didn't.

She didn't recall leaving the balcony, couldn't say which of them led the way back into the room. She only realized where they were when he laid back onto his bed. She joined him eagerly, lying next to him and pressing herself against him. One of his hands found the gap between her skirt and blouse; his hand on the bare flesh of her back was heady, prompting her to hook a leg over his hips and run one hand under his shirt to explore his stomach and chest. Their tongues continued to duel and explore, only interrupted when she pulled his shirt over his head.

Tossing the shirt aside, he rejoined her, leaning in closer. She rolled completely onto her back, pulling him down on top of her, wrapping her legs around his thighs and arching her back to keep the contact. He only rested part of his weight on her, bracing himself on one elbow while the other hand explored her. She was no delicate snowflake; he didn't need to be this gentle but now wasn't the time to correct him. She simply reveled in the feeling of his hand caressing first her lower back, then her hip, then her stomach until he suddenly sat up. Opening her eyes, she saw his face sport a mixed expression of confusion, relief and...something else.

Okay, this could be a setback, but nothing that they couldn't work through.

"Ron, it's okay," she murmured. "I understand that...you haven't been with a lady for some time. We have all night. We'll take our time and..."

"No..." he hissed, the same expression on his face. "It's not that, it's...something else...I..."

Suddenly, his aura flared, forming a luminous brown sheen around him. His eyes flew wide as a sensation he couldn't describe rushed over him. Suddenly, he vanished. The bed, freed from his weight, sprang up and a loud pop sounded as air rushed into the space where he had been a moment ago. Weiss could only stare, mouth and eyes wide open, around the room. For several minutes, she simply stared, wondering what had just happened. Another loud pop sounded from the desk.

She started screaming when she realized that the Lotus Blade had just vanished, as well.

* * *

 _A/N: My thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment about this work. The feedback provides a great deal of my motivation to continue. As always, my biggest thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, for his beta reading._

 _'till next time,_

 _daccu65._


	29. Chapter 29

"You're sure this is the smart thing to do?"

Qrow watched as the boy, Oscar, tilted his head and got a distracted look on his face.

"I'm supposed to say that it isn't smart," he finally said. "But it is necessary."

"Same old Oz," Qrow snickered. He looked out of the airship's open side. The moon was a crescent tonight, meaning that he couldn't guess how high they actually were. He was used to this; the air routes he typically utilized flew with few passengers and even fewer observers.

"He wants to know..." the boy began.

"Look, kid...Oscar," Qrow interrupted. "Just say what he tells you to say. I know you're just the messenger."

"Fine, where do you plan on going first?"

"I've got a little destination in mind," Qrow admitted. "But if you could clue me in a little more on what you want to accomplish, that may change."

Again, the kid got a far away look.

"He...um...with what we've learned so far, I'm concerned that Headmaster Lionheart has been compromised somehow. I think that he's trying to convince the council to defend against an attack from Atlas, upon Windhaven, while the true danger is approaching Kuchinashi from the south."

Qrow chewed that over in his mind, finally nodding.

"I guess it makes sense," he told the boy. "The last live feed off of the CCT system was the Atlesian Mechs attacking Vale. It wouldn't take much to convince Mistral that they're next. Now we come up with big question, why would he do this?"

"Irving is somewhat susceptible to suggestion," Oscar told him, after a few moments. "He's brave and honorable, but someone skilled or clever can alter his judgment. I'm certain he thinks that he's doing the right thing, but if I can see him, undisturbed for a few minutes, I'll be able to break any hold anyone else may have on him."

"In other words," Qrow drawled. "I gotta get you to him, then keep an entire school full of hunters off of your neck, while you unscramble his brains."

"Put somewhat bluntly, yes. Now, where do we go first?"

"Oh, once we land, there's a little place down on Fahise street were I can get my bearings a little bit; maybe get some more information for us."

"Fahise street?" Oscar asked, after his moment of internal listening. "If memory serves, that's not a wholesome neighborhood. What kind of an establishment?"

"Well, they offer certain services...which the finer sort of folks don't approve of being traded...in return for enough lien."

"Prostitution?" The boy yelled at him. "We're dealing with the fate of a kingdom and you're going to drag me to one of...those places?"

"Gee, Oz," Qrow smirked. "I thought you'd be a little more open-minded about certain things."

"This isn't Ozpin! This is me! What are you thinking about?"

"Kid, Mistral has a million secrets, but you have to know where to look. These secrets aren't hidden in the council chambers, opera halls or tea-houses. Not many officials look too close at this little establishment's clientele, so it's a good place to pick up information, goods and services, discretely. Now, as much as the ghost behind your eyes thinks he has a handle on things, what he wants me to do could take a little more muscle than I have right now. If I go to this particular business, I'll be able to arrange for a couple of tough but immoral fellows to back us up when we go to the headmaster's office."

Oscar was silent for a few moments. "Okay, he says that he trusts you, so I guess I don't have much choice in the matter. He says to just keep your mind on the mission and to not get distracted by the other goods...and _services_...being offered."

"Why Oz," Qrow smirked, pulling a flask from a pocket and taking a healthy pull. "How can you question my morality?"

Oscar's expression remained fixed on the huntsman, telling Qrow that Ozpin didn't consider that statement worthy of a response.

"Besides," he added. "Sirret's girls won't steal Oscar's virtue...probably."

The scared look on the boy's face kept Qrow in a good mood for the rest of the dark flight.

* * *

Ren was beyond exhausted when he finally stumbled his way into the hospital room that Nora shared with Yang. In his young life, he had navigated swamps and mountains, he had fought grimm and bandits for hours on end, he had endured training sessions that had left him trembling with fatigue. However, he had never been subjected to a grueling interrogation session, conducted by officials who were convinced their entire kingdom was at risk.

The room's layout meant that he had to first pass by Yang. The blonde was asleep, her snores threatening to rattle the ceiling tiles in their supports. Nora's bed was farther from the door, near the window. His oldest and closest friend wasn't asleep. While she was trying to rest, it was clear that she wouldn't be able to sleep until she knew that he was well.

Much like he wouldn't be able to sleep until he had assured the same about her.

Her eyes, which had been half closed, opened as he approached. For a few moments, the two simply looked at each other. The lines on her face told him that the police and other agents had questioned her harshly, as well. He sighed; they had all known that once they acted, everyone they were associated with would be suspects. His hand clenched involuntarily; the thought of his best friend, lying helpless with a broken leg while being subjected to the grilling that he had faced...

"Settle down," she told him, her old, wry smile appearing and dropping his blood pressure a good ten points. "Nobody likes to be mean to a cripple, so they weren't as nasty as they could have been. After a few hours, they became downright polite. I take it you succeeded."

"Yes," he whispered back, not wanting to wake Yang. "It would also appear that some small portion of the tensions between Mistral and Atlas may have been eased."

"So, chalk up another win," she smiled, although the expression seemed just a little forced. He realized that his was, as well.

"It...could have easily gone badly," he admitted. "We planned as best as we could and moved quickly, before the other side could make plans yet, luck played a very large role. Had chance gone the other way..."

"It's over now," Nora pointed out. "We won, why are you still hung up on it?"

"Nora..." Ren's mouth worked for a few moments, as he tried to put feelings into words. "Last night, when you were talking to Yang, you weren't talking about Ruby and Jaune, were you?"

"No," Nora couldn't meet his eyes, looking instead at her hands worrying at her sheets. "I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be," he told her, prompting her clear, blue eyes to rise to meet his. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "I have been blind to something for so long. I thought that we would attend Beacon and become huntsmen, then perhaps deal with certain issues from our past. After that, I was hoping that the two of us..."

"Yes?" Nora's voice was trembling.

"Could perhaps consider...something more than our friendship," he blurted out. "If you were still interested in this. However, it is clear that I was wrong."

"What?" Nora looked dismayed. "You don't want..."

"No! I mean, yes!" He took a deep breath. "What I mean to say is that I thought that my life would be linear; first attaining an education, then facing the past, then looking towards the future...and that you would be happy to simply follow the course I had set the entire time. I did not consider that you might not be satisfied with such a life."

"Ren, I'm always going to stick with you, you know that!"

"But what if you're unable?" He asked. "You were tortured and injured by Torchwick."

"And I'll make a complete recovery," she pointed out.

"That's not the point!" He stressed. "We live a dangerous life, there's no guarantee that either of us will graduate, there's no guarantee that we will manage to...correct Shion. There's no guarantee that either of us will be here tomorrow. If that happens, what was the point of trying to live life in an orderly, step-by-step manner, if the goal is taken away?"

"So what was your goal?" Nora asked, looking like she desperately wanted to hear his answer, and still feared it.

"To live a long and happy life with you, in every capacity for each other that we can."

She realized that his hand was now in hers, their fingers interlaced, and her breath caught in her throat.

"Nora, I know that you have certain feelings for me," he continued. "And I didn't want to admit to those feelings towards you until we reached the proper point in our lives...but what if that proper point doesn't happen? It means we've spent years just..."

"Ren..." Nora interrupted.

"Yes, Nora?"

"This is the time to shut up!"

She tugged gently at his hand, pulling him down towards her. For all the times that they had embraced each other, supporting each other through hard times or triumphs, this felt awkward...but it would be worth it. He was dirty; he had only been able to wipe his face down after poking through the theater, and sweaty from both the theater and the intense grilling he had undergone, but he was right. If they didn't let each other know, beyond any doubt, how they felt about each other now, there may not be a tomorrow to take care of it. She reached up and put her other hand behind his head, drawing his face down to hers. Her eyes closed as something she had wanted for years was about to happen. Then he tensed up.

Her eyes flew open wide, staring into his own. A lifetime of facing hardships together let her read his mind; something had changed, something was wrong! Suddenly, she realized what had changed; Yang was no longer snoring.

With a certain horror, Nora and Ren slowly turned to look at the room's other bed. A pair of large, lilac orbs were shining at them.

"Hey, don't stop on my account," the cheery blonde told them, with a wide smile. "You can work on the dialog a little, but the two of you aren't exactly like the characters in rom-coms or naughty books, so it was about the best you could do, considering. Continue."

Lie Ren was a calm, flexible young man with incredible balance. Without changing expression, without standing up, without even looking at his target, he swung one foot up, caught the privacy curtain and swept it between the two beds. Ignoring the theatrically disappointed groan from the other side, he returned his attention to the young woman with him.

For her part, Yang wasn't upset. She really liked that her friends were getting together that way; it was well worth the loss of sleep to hear them confess. Not only that, the lights in the room were off, leaving the outside light, from the window on Nora's side of the room, as the only illumination. It silhouetted the couple perfectly against the curtain's fabric.

Her smile getting wider by the second, Yang propped her head up on one arm and settled in to watch the show.

* * *

"So why is everyone for being so angry with me?" The short man demanded, albeit with a fearful look at the pale green woman looming over him. "We managed to access another reality; place a sphere into another plane of existence and retrieve it safely! That's progress, no?"

"We didn't get the right universe," Drakken glared at him. "We were trying to find...what's the name of the place...Remnant! But we got a reality that was incompatible with human life!"

"And you're for blaming me?" Dementor demanded. "This was the first attempt to replicate the abilities of the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer through mechanical means! You were expecting perfection with the first attempt?"

Drakken held his glare at the smaller man for a several seconds. "I have to expect setbacks," he finally growled at him. "But I have to wonder if this setback was honest or something you devised."

"But Drew," Dementor protested. "What gain am I seeing if I steer you wrong? The impatience that you've already shown over this progress has been very painful to me." He gave Shego a pointed look.

"That's the problem, _professor_ ," Drakken paced back and forth in front of his rival...and current prisoner. "I freely admit that you have studied metaphysics a great deal more than I have. You could easily fudge the calculations to get exactly what you wanted...even if it was to just make us waste time. Of course, these calculations are very complex, so errors should be expected."

"Drakken..." Dementor tried to speak, only for the blue man to interrupt him again.

"Of course, you were working on your own scheme before Kim Possible and...er...the young man who's name escapes me, stopped you. Just what were you getting from Remnant?"

"You already know," Dementor protested. "I was getting the grimm."

"Not hardly," Drakken sneered. "A handful of modified bears and some stereotyped werewolves? In return for assault rifles and nuclear warheads? Neither of us are dealers, but we're not that foolish. You must have done better than that! What were you trying to get?"

"I was trying to get a dragon!" The prisoner insisted.

"Just a big target!" Drakken insisted. "Sure, it may be big and powerful; but one pass from a modern fighter jet and it's splattered across the landscape and dissipating! You must have gotten something else, what was it?"

"I'm telling you, nothing!"

"Should I apply a little more pain?" Shego suggested. "A little bit of 'Dementor goes ouch' might make him a little more forthcoming."

"How will we know if he's telling the truth?" Drakken demanded. "He'll say anything to make the hurting stop and he's clever enough to get us to believe whatever he tells us! I don't want to go through the time and effort of another trial if we don't know for sure that we're at least aiming for the right point...er...the correct probability and time! If only..." Drakken's dark eyes suddenly flew wide.

"Drew?" Shego asked.

"Why don't Dr. Possible, Miss Flanner and Kim Possible head up to the lounge?" A smile had taken up residence on Drakken's face and was widening by the second. "Shego, take the hobbit up there as well. Everyone get comfortable and get ready to record, because I think we're going to be talking for a long, long time!" He spun on his heel and headed for the passage to his personal quarters.

"Drakken, what are you doing?" Shego demanded.

"Just going to go through some old mementos," he chuckled, and for once he sounded suitably evil. "I'll meet you all in the lounge!"

Once out of sight of everyone else, he broke into a most undignified sprint to the large storage chambers next to his quarters. Tearing through the containers in a hasty manner that simply wouldn't do for a genius of his caliber to be seen doing, he found his quarry after several minutes' search.

"So the little pest thinks he's going to have the last laugh, does he?" Drakken again chuckled, evilly, as he confirmed that the gadget had a full charge. Hiding it in one of his lab coat's large pockets, he made his way to the elevator.

Upon getting off of the elevator, he noted the people who were gathered around the lounge and where they were. Dementor was sitting on an overstuffed couch, near the largest set of windows. Perfect! Deciding that a certain amount of drama would enhance his ruthless credibility, he walked purposefully towards the windows, allowing the rest of the occupants to see him and Dementor, with the panoramic view from the mountaintop providing a backdrop.

"Okay, Drakken, what are you up to?" Shego asked. Drakken noted with an inner smile that almost everyone, including Dementor, had some sort of refreshment in hand. Taking the scene from casual to dramatic would be great!

"What I should have done the moment you brought this undersized, conniving liar into my lair!" Drakken snarled. Using a quick, yet unhurried motion, he pulled the ray gun he had recovered out of his pocket and aimed it at his former rival. "Try feeding us your lies now, _professor_!"

Dementor's eyes flew wide and he jumped to his feet. To the side, Kim Possible screamed at Drakken to stop. Dr. Possible yelled something about still needing the small man. Drakken only smiled and pulled the trigger. Searing yellow light burst from the gun to engulf Dementor. The physicist stood for only a moment, mouth open in shock, before slumping back onto the couch.

"Drew, you idiot!" James grabbed his old schoolmate's arm, pulling the gun from his hand. "We needed him to recover Ronald!"

"Oh! What was that you shot me with?" Dementor grumbled, trying to struggle to his feet.

"That ray was always a little disorienting," Drew admitted. "Nothing's perfect. Now, Dementor, do you intend to cooperate with us from now on?"

"No!" The prisoner insisted. "I'm going to continue to mislead you for my own purposes until..."

Dementor slapped his hands over his own mouth, his eyes even wider than when Drakken pointed the gun at him.

"The truth ray!" Kim suddenly exclaimed. "Of course!"

"I can't believe that it took me until now to recall it," Drakken shook his head and recovered the gun from his old college classmate, dropping it back into his pocket.

"So what was with the whole execution scene!" Shego demanded.

"All work and no play makes Drakken a dull genius. Now, why don't we all settle in? This is going to be a long, long talk. Dementor, was that an honest, but failed attempt to reach Remnant or did you intentionally direct us away from our goal?"

Professor Dementor planted his hands over his mouth and refused to speak. Drakken sighed, "Shego..."

The aforementioned woman simply ignited a finger and placed it, gently, on Dementor's shoulder.

"I-it was an intentional error!" Dementor promptly said. "I didn't want to access Remnant!"

"Why not?" Kim demanded, now stalking her long-time foe. "I just want to get Ron back, how is that harming you?"

"Because once you retrieve your liebhaber, you'll quit searching," Dementor's expression clearly showed that he didn't want to talk.

"And why do you want us to keep searching?" Drakken interrupted. The blue man took his own advice and sat in a comfortable chair, making a great show of getting comfortable.

"It is the research I was doing with the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer," Dementor blurted out. The small man rolled his eyes, realizing that he was unable to not talk. Shrugging his shoulders, he sighed deeply and realized he was about to spill his secrets.

"So if you were studying Remnant, why didn't you want us to return?" Kim was very confused, but took a seat herself.

"I wasn't studying Remnant's universe!" He shook his head. "I was studying the...theoretic probability that this reality occupies."

"Okay, I'm sure I won't understand it, but do the best you can to explain it," Kim prompted.

"Every reality has a beginning and an end," he told her, after a moment of thought. "Those physicists who have studied the multiverse tend to believe that there are an infinite number of universes and that each is capable of spawning an infinite number of daughter universes."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kim noted that Justine perked up.

"I will admit that I once held this belief," he continued. "But it is not correct! The multiverse has a single multi-point that spawns realities. All realities come into existence, age and die!"

"A universe can die?" Drakken scoffed. "How can radiation, plasma, gas and rock die?"

"Look at the rock that is under your feet right now," Dementor retorted. "It is composed of calcium, silicone, oxygen, hydrogen, iron, aluminum and other elements, no? Were these elements always combined to form this stone? Will they always be? Were the subatomic particles that form the elements always combined into these elements, and will they always be?"

"No," Justine interrupted. "Our short lifespans don't allow us to appreciate how granite decomposes, but we understand that it happens. We understand that the heavier elements are produced from lighter ones, inside super-massive stars. Why shouldn't we be able to grasp the fact that even the subatomic particles may come from somewhere, or something, and only remain in their present state for a finite time?"

"Exactly, my dear," Dementor actually smiled at this. "The clever Fraulein has grasped the beginnings of a concept that I have been researching. You see, my previous research indicated such a flow of reality from a starting datum point to a finale. All realities are created. At the beginning, they teem with what I shall call creation; stars form, matter is created from chaos and energy. However, this creation gives way to decay as the reality ages; stars collapse or go nova, galaxies drift apart, eventually, the very subatomic particles will unravel, leaving only something that I call protomater."

"And what happens to this debris?" Drakken sneered, not willing to concede that his rival was studying something much deeper than he had ever contemplated.

"I can only theorize that there is some form of recycling taking place," Dementor told him. The blue man wondered if the truth ray was still necessary; he knew from experience that once a mad scientist started to rant, it was hard to stop.

"In some way, this protomater is taken back to the origin data point," Dementor continued. "Perhaps even placed in a stockpile before being used to create another reality, so that the journey begins anew."

"So that's what all of this is about?" Kim demanded, getting angrier with every word. "I...er...we lost Ron because you wanted to prove your theories about how realities generate and age?"

"Of course not!" Dementor managed to look offended, despite being a prisoner. "I wanted to access this act of recycling and recreation! I wanted to put my hand on it and tap a portion of the awesome power! Imagine what one could do with such power at his command!"

"Yeah," Shego drawled. "What were you intending to do with that kind of power?"

For several, long minutes, Dementor simply stared at her, open-mouthed.

"I hadn't thought about that," he admitted, the truth ray still holding sway over his vocalizations. "But I'm sure I would have come up with something. Power such as that would re-write the concept of infinite!"

"Gee, the two of you are more alike than I thought," the green woman quipped, with a pointed look at Drakken.

"Now's not the time," the blue man grumbled, rather absentmindedly. "Dementor, why were you continuing to interact with Remnant if this reality wasn't your final goal?"

"I was first confirming my theories of the multiple realities!" Dementor snarled back. "When I first started, I didn't realize how much interaction there could be between them, how much they could parallel each other! I also took advantage of the interaction to assure that I would be able to continue my studies and experiments!"

"What do you mean, paralleling?" Kim demanded. "Is Remnant like Earth?"

"It is very similar," he answered. "You see, it follows our reality. The medium through which realities flow has...for the want of a better term, imperfections. These imperfections affect realities in different ways, even allowing a reflection, or shadow from one to affect another. The atmosphere, temperature, climate and chemical composition of the soil are so similar that one from Earth would feel quite at home on Remnant. However, there are other similarities; they speak English on all of Remnant. Their technology is similar to ours...they are far more advanced than us in robotics and certain forms of medicine. Our physics and chemistry is more advanced than theirs. But that's not all, some people on Earth have reflections on Remnant...someone who has a very strong resemblance to him or her."

"Take yourself, Fraulein Possible; Remnant could very well play host to a redheaded young woman with incredible fighting skills," he told her, when he saw everyone's blank stares. "She very well could have become associated with a young, blonde man who seems a complete dummkopf, but who really has surprising strengths and abilities. She could very well find herself in conflict with an alluring yet psychopathic woman who throws fire, or other energy from her hands. However, the ways in which one reality can leave a shadow upon another are myriad! Take that fanatiker Fiske, for example. There is every possibility that there is someone on Remnant that has monkey features, but is kindly. There is also every possibility that there is someone on Remnant that is every bit the verruckt that he is...but perhaps has aspects of another animal. Two shadows, each with some aspect of him!"

For a short time, everyone contemplated this.

"I must immediately invest in a greeting card company," Drakken broke the silence. Everyone, Dementor included, simply stared at him.

"Think of it!" Drakken answered their stares. "We've already managed to send a probe across the realities. We will eventually refine this so that it goes faster and more safely, then we will let the world's governments know what we have accomplished. When that happens, when the public learns that they have reflections of themselves living in another reality, don't you think people are going to want to communicate with their doppelganger? What's the first step? Sending them a greeting card! I'll be rich!"

"You fool!" Dementor spat. "We stand to re-write our species' understanding of physics and religion...and all you can think of is how to make a few dollars?"

"Of course I understand the implications," Drakken protested. "But investigating them is much easier with a fat bank account. Anyway, were you just firing blind with where we sent the probe, or did you have a specific destination?"

"I misled you to a specific reality," he answered. Again, Dementor put a hand over his mouth.

"So, we seem to have hit a nerve again," Drakken chuckled. To his delight, he had the evil chortle working pretty well today. "So tell me, what was the significance of this reality you tricked us into sending the probe to?"

"If you are such a genius, why are you ending sentences with a preposition?"

"Don't sidetrack the question!" Drakken snarled. "What is the significance of this reality?"

Shego discretely edged a little closer to the small physicist.

"It is the home reality of Yono the Destroyer," he grumbled, clearly not happy about talking.

Kim caught her breath.

"Why choose that particular reality?"

"Several reasons," the prisoner told him. "Because it is a reality that precedes our own on the path towards oblivion, or so I speculate, so it gives me a greater understanding on how realities decay. The Yono himself is a powerful being, but he draws life from our reality into his own. His own reality has lost the ability to create, so he trades destruction for the life he needs to continue his existence."

"So what was that piece of stone you insisted go along?" Kim demanded. "Was it really Remnant technology?"

"No," Dementor flinched, clearly expecting some unpleasant consequences. "One of the items my contact in Remnant provided me with was limited knowledge in manipulating souls."

"What sort of limited knowledge?"

"The ability to capture and contain a soul that is unattached; under certain circumstances."

"What sort of circumstances?" Drakken demanded.

"Fine!" Dementor threw up his hands in exasperation. "You'll keep badgering me until I tell you! That stone was the heart from Montgomery Fiske's stone form! We were able to send it to the Yono's dimension, where it captured Fiske's soul! It is glowing because his soul is now inside of it!"

Again, silence reigned in the lounge.

"What were you going to do with it?" Kim finally managed to demand.

"I needed it to pay off an associate for the work she was doing!"

"Amy!" Kim snapped at him. "Amy is the only one who would be interested in Fiske's soul! What was she doing for you and what was she going to do with that stone?"

"What she was doing? She was creating more forms of grimm for me."

"What?" Kim demanded. "But you were importing grimm from Remnant! We saw you doing this!"

"Those grimm were simply to give her more ideas, to show her what my contact used as common muscle and terror. Amy had already developed very powerful grimm, but they were unstable, short lived and difficult to control."

"Wait, Amy was already forming grimm?" Kim's face reflected the horror she felt. "How?"

"The rules of physics are different in Remnant's reality than in ours," Dementor told her. "We have certain elements, such as uranium and plutonium...even lead, that they don't have. On the other hand, they have certain...minerals...that we do not, such as dust. Their use of dust can almost seem like magic to us...while our grasp of chemistry and physics using those elements we have leave them stunned."

"Not answering the question!"

"I'm getting there!" Dementor showed all the indignity of a professor, and scientist, interrupted in mid-lecture. "There are several forms of this dust, and one of the more rare is a dark form that I call hate dust. Using crystals of this hate dust, someone skilled in dust use and knowledgeable in anatomy can channel negative emotion into living matter and create grimm."

"I'd call you a liar if you weren't under the influence of my ray," Drakken told him. "But how did Amy get these skills?"

"I told you before that several people on Remnant are reflections of people on Earth," Dementor now looked like a professor staring down a student who hadn't remembered a lecture. "I believe that my contact, named Salem, is a reflection of Amy. Both are driven, knowledgeable in anatomy and very amoral. To put it simply...for your benefit, Drakken, Amy is a natural at it."

"But to what purpose?" Kim interrupted. "Why bring in Amy to create powerful grimm?"

"Because I knew that the authorities would have a very negative reaction to my efforts to tap the ultimate power," Dementor told her. "They are so narrow-minded! I'll admit that there was a minor possibility of some negative side-effects of accessing the act of creating creation itself..."

"Wait!" Drakken interrupted. "What is the side effect and what was the probability?"

"The side effect would have been the demolition of the solar system, down to the subatomic scale," Dementor told him. "And the probability was roughly twenty-two percent."

"You have to speak the lingo if you want to get results," Drakken informed Kim. "Carry on, Dementor."

"So I needed a force capable of preventing such fools from preventing my work." The aforementioned man concluded. "I made a deal with Amy; she would create this force while I would bring her beloved Fiske's soul back from its fate."

"Hold on here," surprisingly, it was Justine who interrupted this time. "You were willing to risk the entire Earth, the entire Solar system, for a chance to experience a moment of ultimate creation?"

"Of course! What is a lifetime of mundane existence compared to the moment of merging with the act of creation itself? The entire world would have experienced this!"

"And if anyone chose not to?" She prompted.

"They are fools! They are unworthy to decide their own fate!"

"The discussion about free will and self determination can wait for another day," Shego stepped into the conversation. "Let me get this straight, the preparations for this little endeavor of yours were going to be extensive, and they would have probably caught someone's notice. I'm not talking about Global Justice sending in a dozen agents on hovercraft, armed with glorified tasers. I'm talking strike aircraft, special forces teams...maybe even entire regiments of heavily armed and supported elite troops. How were your henchmen going to hold that off?"

"That is the advantage of using the grimm." Now, Dementor appeared smug. "They do not need to eat or even to breath, they survive and grow off of negative emotions. I was already setting up a lair on Kongsoya Island, and moving grimm into secret tunnels."

"Okay, I don't know anything about this island, but I'm willing to bet it isn't exactly heavily populated. How do you keep these grimm things fed if there are no negative emotions to work with?"

"The same way Amy created them," he smirked. "Salem gave us some of these hate crystals, which could absorb and store negative emotions. Amy had several of her little creatures carry these to riots, demonstrations, even rivalry sporting events, wherever anger would be expressed _en mass_. Grimm grow large and strong on a diet of hate and sorrow, and Earth has a much larger and more diverse and conflicted population than Remnant. Amy has already created numerous creatures of great strength."

"Wait just a minute," Drakken interrupted. He was squinting his eyes and rubbing his temples slowly , obviously trying to digest information and come up with a conclusion he might not like. "You're saying that Amy can create large, frightening creatures that don't need to be fed, don't need to breathe and don't produce waste?"

"Yes."

"And these creatures are completely obedient to her?"

"Ja!"

"And she has all of the hate that the world's politics, rivalries, bad movies and boy-bands can generate to fuel them?"

"Yes."

"So she can move them, discretely, into just about any place she wants to and they can be kept there with a minimal interaction with the outside world?"

"Exactly."

Drakken's dark eyes narrowed. "About that soul heart, or whatever it is; can someone with the proper technology detect that we now have it?"

"Yes," Dementor clearly didn't like the route this line of questioning had taken.

"And does this mountain, which will shield electromagnetic transmissions, block such signals that a soul produces?" Drakken was looking part pleased with himself, part fearful.

"...no..."

"We have to move!" Drakken told those around him. "Amy could be closing in on us, right now."

"But why now?" James Possible asked.

"We're at our most vulnerable," Kim told him. "With the mechanism powered down for maintenance, Drakken released Team Go back to their city. Right now, Shego and I are the only...enforcers...other than some henchmen."

"But there's no way that Amy could know that we're on to her!" James protested.

"No, but she probably knows that the heart is here and she can probably guess that we're going to be down for maintenance, and thus under-guarded." Drakken told him, poking at a communications device. "We put this endeavor together in a hurry, shortly after acquiring Dementor here. Someone who has contacts with the criminal underworld, who knew what happened to...the young man whose name I cannot recall...and is clever could easily guess what we're up to and where. Amy is just such a person. Add to that, Team Go isn't being secretive about being back on the prowl in their city, and a calculating person could guess that the best time to strike is now. There, I have all the henchmen on alert and arming themselves."

"I'll go get the heart," Shego offered. "I think the princess here is more than capable of handling the hobbit if he decides to make a break for it."

"Right," Drakken nodded as she thumped the button to the elevator. "But that begs the question; what do we do with the thing?"

"Leave that to me," James pulled his phone from his pocket. "At the space center, we handle certain dangerous or valuable components that are vital to national security. I have the clearance, so I'll be able to arrange storage at the depository in Fort Knox. I don't know how powerful these grimm are, but the defenses there are formidable; and there's an armored brigade close by."

"I'm contacting Dr. Director," Kim added, working with the Kimmunicator. "I'll see if I can get Team Go to come up here and transport it. Once it's away from here, I don't think that Amy will bother us."

The elevator hissed open again, disgorging a half-dozen henchmen with shock-staffs. Drakken quietly directed them to various points around the lounge.

"This is frustrating," the blue-man commented. "I'm preparing for an attack that I hope doesn't happen, and I have no idea if it is actually going to take place."

"Got it!" Kim said, with a certain amount of satisfaction. "Team Go is getting loaded up right now, they'll be here in an hour or so."

"I don't know if that will be fast enough," Justine told her.

"Oh?"

Kim looked to her former classmate, to see the other girl staring out the window in a sort of horrified fascination. Following her gaze, the redhead looked out the window to see a vast, black bird flying towards the lounge.

"Everybody to the control room!" she snapped. "It will be safer down there!"

Fortunately, Drakken never skimped when it came to his infrastructure. It was a tight fit, but the eleven managed to squeeze inside even as the giant, black bird slammed into the large windows. Cracks formed spiderweb patterns and the massive thing was backing off for another run when the doors closed. There was no speaking on the elevator; the occupants listening to shattering glass fading away above them.

Drakken led the way out of the elevator, stepping briskly once they reached the control room. He quickly activated all of the screens, then placed a chair in the elevator opening, so that it couldn't be called up to the lounge.

"Okay, what's the sitch?" Kim asked him. "Where can attackers come in?"

"There's the elevator shaft and the stairway," the blue man informed her. "Of course, that's a secure door in the stairway, but I'm sure Amy is going to have some way of dealing with that."

"Okay, that's for this room," Kim noted. "How about the main facility?"

"There's the vehicle shaft," Drakken admitted, now poking at a terminal. "They can probably get in there fairly easily. However, the only openings into this room are the elevator shaft and the stairwell.

"So we can be trapped in here, fairly easily," Kim grumbled. "We either make a break for it or we hole up and hope that we can hold out until help arrives."

"Team Go is roughly an hour away," her father pointed out.

Chittering from one of the workstations drew everyone's attention to Rufus.

"Global Justice is closer," Drakken announced, looking at the screen the naked mole rat was seated at. "The little fellow sent another request to Dr. Director. She's putting together a strike team right now and arming them appropriately! They'll be here in half an hour. Good work, little guy!"

Rufus blushed at the praise, with his paw moving tilting in an 'it was nothing' gesture.

"Okay, we hole up!" Kim decided. She and the rest of the occupants suddenly startled as Shego burst in from the stairway.

"Got the rock," the woman declared, holding up the glowing heart. "What's the plan?"

"This is our fort," Drakken informed her. "Could you do the honors and see to it that the door can't be opened?"

Shego simply smiled, shoved the stone heart into a thigh pocket, ignited one hand and started to force-weld the heavy door to the frame.

"We've got company," Justine announced. One of the large screens showed dark creatures, that looked like Hollywood werewolves, swarming into the lounge through the broken windows. The occupants of the control room got a few minutes of watching a couple of them force the elevator door open while others were battering through all of the doors in the room, then the picture vanished.

"It would appear that either someone is directing them, or else they're very intelligent," Justine pointed out. "They're opening all the doors, looking for stairs while getting into the elevator shaft; and they took out the camera."

"You two," Drakken pointed at two of his henchmen. "Make sure he doesn't escape." The blue-man indicated Dementor. He then walked to a cabinet and pulled out three more shock-staffs, offering them to Kim, James Possible and Justine. He also had a replica of Kim's old grapple gun for the redhead.

"I don't know how to fight," Justine pointed out, James nodded his agreement.

"I don't think that these things are going to accept a surrender," Drew countered, his voice serious. "If it comes to it...well..."

"I understand," James accepted the staff, as did the two young women. Kim also holstered the grapple at her side. Moments later, scratching sounded from the roof of the elevator cab.

"We have more company," Justine informed them, pointing at a screen. Most of the occupants stared, open-mouthed, at a screen that showed a jet-black badger, the size of an elephant and with bone plates over its head. The creature smashed down the door leading from the vehicle shaft to the main chamber. Behind it, a line of creatures that looked like chimpanzees and orangutans, also jet black with bone plates, burst into the chamber and spread throughout the facility.

"They may be looking for the cameras, or even for a way in here," Drakken informed his companions. "If it's the latter, the jokes on them. There are no windows to weaken this room's integrity, I use cameras to observe everything."

"You might want to cut down on the gloating," Shego informed him. "The company is here."

Pounding sounded from the door she was guarding, rattling it in its frame. The green-hued woman had done an excellent job of jamming it shut. Dents appeared in the metal as whatever was on the other side sought to batter it's way through the door, rather than force it open. After several minutes, a rent opened in the door and a clawed paw forced its way through. Shego slashed with an energized hand, chopping off the appendage. A yelp, sounding much like a whipped dog, could be heard from the other side of the door as the appendage was withdrawn. One of the henchmen thrust his charged staff through the opening, prompting more yelps. Kim stared with a certain horror at the paw, which dissipated into black smoke.

"These things aren't alive!" Kim gasped. "We don't have to hold back when we fight them!"

"I wasn't about to, princess," Shego snapped at her longtime nemesis. Another paw tore at the edges of the hole in the door. Shego crushed it against the jagged metal.

"Why are they doing that?" Justine demanded, pointing at the wall of screens. Kim looked, and her heart fell when she realized that the giant badger and a couple of the simian grimm were tearing at the nested spheres.

"That wasn't part of our deal!" Dementor roared. "I needed the equipment intact!"

Any answers had to wait. The door absorbed still more impacts, denting as powerful blows hit it with increasing frequency. Now the elevator cab started to shake violently, both the floor and ceiling denting as creatures attempted to force their way in from both above and below. Suddenly, a section of the floor fell away and a dark chimpanzee forced its way up through the gap. With a single, smooth motion, Drakken drew his ray gun and fired, hitting the creature between its eyes. It looked confused for a moment, then continued to force its way up through the floor and into the cab.

"Why did I shoot it with a truth ray?" Drakken grumbled to himself.

"Because you are an idiot," Dementor answered. At Drakken's harsh glare, the smaller man held up his arms. "I cannot lie while the ray affects me, can I?"

Kim couldn't spare the time to listen to any additional banter; she jumped forward, executed a front flip and brought her shock-staff down with all of the momentum she had generated. Caught halfway through the hole in the cab's floor, the creature couldn't avoid the strike. She clearly heard bones breaking and the dark chimp was knocked back the way it had come.

"Keep out of the elevator!" Drakken warned. "There's no telling when either the floor or the roof will give way!"

The warning proved timely. Half of the floor was ripped off from below while a section of the roof was also torn free. One of the werewolves dropped from the hole in the ceiling...and promptly fell through the hole in the floor. Kim rolled her eyes despite the dire situation; it did not appear that the assailants were overly burdened with intelligence. An orangutan grimm sprang from the hole in the floor to meet her strike. Both bludgeoned and shocked, it sprawled back and fell through the hole in the floor. A werewolf swung in from above, but one of the henchmen caught it with a thrust. Quivering from the shock, it too fell through the floor.

A loud series of chitters drew Kim's attention back to a workstation, where Rufus was gesturing frantically at one of the screens. This one showed the main chamber, with the nesting spheres and the delicate mechanisms broken and scattered. Kim didn't have time to mourn the loss of time and effort; the giant badger was reared up against one of the chamber walls.

"Drakken!" The redhead shouted at the host. "What's on the other side of the wall that thing is leaning against?"

"Er...us," he answered.

Horrified, Kim could only stare, dumbfounded, as it leaned back away from the all and then surged forward, falling onto the rough stone. The wall that held the viewing screens collapsed inward, sending stones, dust and electronics tumbling throughout the control room. Through the maelstrom, she could see the giant beast drop below the opening and a few minutes later, simian grimm started to climb through the breach.

"Princess and I have the big breach!" Shego's roar sounded through the confusion. "Two henchmen cover the stairs and and two more cover the elevator. Everyone else is in reserve!"

As much as Kim didn't care for Shego, she had to admit that her former nemesis had a sharp mind under pressure. The two women were the most lethal fighters and would be needed at the largest opening. The stairwell and elevator were narrow openings and could be covered by the henchmen. There was no time to think any deeper, no time to wonder how long it would take Global Justice to arrive. There was only time to strike a chimp in the head, followed by a spin kick that sent an orangutan flying back into the main chamber. Next to her, Shego was a green dervish, shredding with claws and burning opponents with plasma. Kim soon lost herself in the rhythm of fighting, trying to keep the creatures out of the control room while not interfering with Shego. A couple of the creatures got past the two women, but were quickly incapacitated by the reserve henchmen. Then disaster struck.

Maybe the simian grimm were more intelligent that the werewolf grimm; maybe the giant badger was somehow directing their efforts or maybe Amy was coordinating the attack. Suddenly, the badger reared up in front of the opening again, but this time it was covered with simian grimm. The dark apes swarmed through the opening, overrunning the two women. It was chaos; Kim saw one of the chimps grab Justine by the hair, only to have Rufus sink his teeth into the offending paw. Drakken was grappling with one of the creatures until a henchman came to his aid, inadvertently shocking both the grimm and the scientist. Her father was holding an orangutan at bay with a shock staff while the rest of the henchmen seemed to be holding their own. Then a werewolf jumped on her father from behind.

Kim sprang away from her own opponent as the creature drove her father to the ground. Tumbling under a swipe from another grimm, she managed to jam the end of her staff into the creature's mouth before it could sink its teeth into her father's throat. Continuing her attack, she forced the thing completely off of her father before activating the shock, delivering the charge deep in the creature's gullet. It dropped, but now another development drew her attention. Four grimm suddenly jumped on top of Shego, forcing her to the ground. Leaving her father behind, Kim lunged to assist Shego as still more of the creatures climbed in from the main chamber.

A henchman reached the scrum first, swinging his staff like a baseball bat. He didn't have a great deal of skill, but he made up for it with strength, sending the dark chimp off and into the main chamber. Kim reached the tangle and delivered a pair of thrusts that drove both an orangutan and a chimp away from the snarling, growling woman. While Shego dealt with the last orangutan, another chimp scuttled in close and tore the thigh pocket off of her clothing. Before anyone could catch the creature, it jumped through the opening and into the main chamber, carrying the stone heart with it.

Two more grimm, a simian and a werewolf, attacked the teenager, preventing her from pursuing the one with Fiske's soul. By the time she had dealt with her two latest attackers, another werewolf burst from the stairs and plowed bodily into her father. The rocket scientist was sent sliding across the control room floor and through the opening. Kim didn't think, didn't register the fact that Rufus jumped onto her and clung to her back, she simply launched herself at her father, drawing and firing her grapple gun. She drove a shoulder into the rocket scientist and by some miracle, the grappling hook caught something on the far side of the chamber. She activated the recoil, redirecting them from a downward plunge to an arching swoop. Hitting the ground, they both rolled and tumbled across the floor.

Kim was on her feet in an instant, ready for the converging grimm. Her father was stunned and unable to get to his feet, not used to such violence. Still, Kim quickly dispatched the first of the werewolves that approached. Reminding herself that she only needed to hold out for a few more minutes before help arrived, she forced down her exhaustion, re-directed an oncoming chimp and planted a foot squarely in the belly of an attacking orangutan. She recovered from her kick just a bit too slow and another chimp tackled her. One of the werewolves jumped on her and she managed to get her staff up to block, but she was now pinned to the ground, unable to get to her feet. She barely kept the werewolf's jaws away from her face, but she could hear more creatures closing in. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the badger closing on her father. Rufus placed himself between the rocket scientist and the huge creature, but there was no way he could stop it.

She tried to kick free but another simian grimm, she couldn't tell the exact type, caught her legs. The werewolf bore down on her, hits jaws getting closer to her face while the badger grimm was now about to take her father in its jaws, ignoring Rufus' frantic bites at its leg. It was going to end, she realized. She was about to lose her father, then her own life and there was nothing she could do, nobody to help.

And then _he_ was there!

With a loud pop, Ron was suddenly standing between her and her father. He was barefoot and shirtless, confused and disoriented, but he was there. The blonde man took a quick look around and realized that her father was in the greatest danger. Rushing forward he pulled the rocket scientist away from the massive grimm. When the creature continued to advance, he jumped forward, now glowing blue, and delivered a massive, double-handed blow to its head, dropping it to the ground. Heartened by the new development, Kim felt a surge of energy course through her, keeping the werewolf's jaws away from her for a few more seconds.

Those seconds proved to be enough, as suddenly a familiar, glowing blade sheared through the creature's skull. The redhead managed to free a leg and kick the grimm holding her legs in the jaw while another swing of the Lotus Blade eliminated the chimp that was grappling her. She executed a back-spring and was on her feet, next to Ron.

"After all of this, grimm monkeys," the boy shook his head. "It's always monkeys! What's the sitch?"

"Bad guys are swarming a secret lab," Kim told him, her heart rising to hear the question.

"That's pretty standard," he answered, stabbing a werewolf.

"We have backup," she told him. "Global Justice should arrive any minute."

"That's different," he commented, helping her father to his feet. Ron nudged the rocket scientist to the chamber's wall, where he and Kim could keep between the still dazed man and the dark creatures who were closing again.

"Drakken and Shego are on our side this time," Kim continued, landing an up-strike to an orangutan's chin.

"That's very different," he quipped, now wincing as if he were in pain.

Kim didn't have time to concern herself over his well-being; the grimm were closing in again. The badger led the charge.

"The big guy has to go," Ron rasped.

"You do the honors," Kim instructed. "I'll cover you." She matched her words with actions, springing forward to sweep a chimpanzee's legs from under it, then kick a werewolf under the chin. Ron spared the Lotus Blade a glance, then was suddenly holding a large war-hammer. His technique was something Kim was not familiar with, although she had to admit that it was effective; jumping forward, executing a double flip and striking the beast's head. The shriek of pure, joyful exuberance was something that seemed strangely out of character for him.

Even the grimm were taken aback by the powerful blow that dropped the strongest of their number. Still, after a moment's hesitation, they rallied and came on again. Suddenly, Ron was holding a large scythe, like something the grim reaper would use. Smiling at the ironic appropriateness of the thought, Kim took up a position at his side, and the two went to work on the oncoming mass. Although the two had not seen each other for months, they were still in sync with each other, keeping close enough to support each other but far enough away that they didn't entangle themselves. The grimm dropped like pins in front of a bowling ball, sliced, shocked or bludgeoned. The horde was thinning when a large crash sounded from behind them.

Kim gasped with relief when she saw the source; a Global Justice strike team had just forced its way into the main chamber, and it was armed with some heavy weaponry. The last of the grimm in the main chamber were quickly nothing more than fading smoke while up on one wall, Shego tossed the last of the grimm out of the hole in the control room. Strangely, she did not look happy but Kim had a more immediate concern.

He was back! The enemies were gone, her father was fine, and _he_ was back! Kim threw herself into Ron's arms, wrapping her own arms around his shoulders and holding him close. Finally, by some miracle, he was here where he belonged! She wanted to kiss him, but that would mean loosening her hold a little, and there was no way she was going to do that. His arms tightened around her waist and she wrapped her legs around him, clinging to him as if he could vanish in a second. There were stories that would have to be told, information about this other reality that would have to be shared, others would need to reconnect with him but for right now, surrounded by the shattered remnants of one of Drakken's contraptions, she finally felt at home again.

His shudder, and hiss of pain, prompted Kim to release him. She hadn't seen him take any hits during the fight, but she suddenly realized that she didn't know what kind of condition he was in when he appeared.

"Ron, what is it?" She asked him.

"I...don't know,' he stammered. "It's...everywhere!"

With a scream, he covered his eyes. Horrified, Kim noted that he looked like he was covered with an angry, red rash. Her horror only increased as the rash visibly got worse, looking like an invisible file was grinding at his flesh. She stepped forward to hug him again, but realized that touching him would hurt him. How could she comfort him, shelter him against this?

"What can I do?" She demanded.

"I...don't..." He managed to gasp, then he stood straight and rigid.

An expression that combined confusion, relief and...something else came over his face. Suddenly, a luminous, brown sheen encased him and he vanished. There was a loud pop, as air rushed into the space he had stood a moment ago. Kim screamed, a wail of loss and anguish as the only sign that her soul mate had been there was the Lotus Blade, still in the form of a scythe.

* * *

What had just happened? After her initial scream, Weiss regained her self control. Forcing herself to think, to recall exactly what happened before he vanished, she recognized the expression on his face; the rapturous feeling of activating your semblance for the first time. The only question was, what exactly did the semblance do? Where had he gone?

Her musings were cut short by a burst of brown light and a short gust of air. The light didn't fade, but grew into a larger mass, an oblong shape higher than she was tall and wider than her shoulders. With a loud pop, it vanished to reveal Ron, standing in the space that it had occupied.

Her sense of relief was quickly overridden by a closer look at him. He was covered with contusions; like rough sandpaper had abraded every inch of his body. He looked around, frightened, his eyes red and seeping blood.

"Kim?" He gasped. "I can't see!"

"No, it's me, Weiss!" She assured him, reaching out to touch his hand, even though she was touching raw and damaged flesh.

"Weiss, I was there," he grabbed her hand, a look of wonder on his face. "I was on Earth, with Kim! There were grimm there and we were fighting them! Then, everything started to hurt and now I'm back here, but I can't see!"

"Sit down," she ordered, gently guiding him to the bed. Now she had something she could deal with. She hadn't known what to do about him vanishing, but now that he was here and injured, the course of action was obvious. She grabbed her scroll and summoned an ambulance, then rushed to the bathroom, moistened a towel with cold water, and returned to her companion.

He was sobbing with pain; and perhaps emotions, and he hissed when she spread the chilled cloth on him. He managed to regain some composure when the cold soothed his raw skin.

"Help is on the way," she assured him. "We'll get you to a hospital and figure out what happened to you."

He could only nod, still trembling in agony. She returned to the bathroom and prepared another towel. Coming back with the cloth, she stopped cold. At first she assumed that a section of his flesh had sloughed off, but then the pink mass moved, spreading the towel more evenly across his abused back. It was some kind of rodent, but it had no fur and its front teeth were exposed, even when it's mouth was shut. She was somewhat bemused that Ron had no reaction to its presence but became really confused when it looked at her, gave a short wave and a cheery "hi-yo!"

* * *

 _A/N: As always, I welcome comments from anyone._

 _Big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his Beta Reading._


	30. Chapter 30

Weiss Schnee knew that her friend was different, but this took different to a whole new level. She had been able to accept his strange fondness for and friendliness with rodents; the rats that he dealt with proved to be very useful and they kept their distance from her...usually. However, she had recently learned where this affinity came from and she was wishing that she hadn't. The little fellow, Rufus, was a kindly enough creature but there were no two ways of looking at it; he was still a rat. Not only was he a rat, but he was fur-less, which made him a gross rat. He was also new to this world, so he needed someone to look after him. As she was Ron's companion, it was only logical that she take care of him.

The problem was that Rufus was used to being around people who liked him; Weiss didn't. She didn't like rodents, she didn't like gross-looking rodents and she really didn't like gross-looking rodents that insisted on riding either in a pocket or on a shoulder. The ambulance ride to the hospital wasn't so bad; Rufus had kept next to Ron's head while Weiss held his hand. The young man couldn't see and there was no way of knowing if his blindness was permanent or not, so he was understandably panicked. It was when the ambulance arrived at the hospital, and Weiss was forced to deal with Rufus directly, that her troubles began.

For one thing, she absolutely could not stand to have him on her shoulder. His nakedness constantly distracted her and the fact that there was a rat touching her hair forced her to use every bit of self-control at her disposal to prevent screaming. While her skirt had a pocket, her skin crawled knowing that a rat was actually in there. It wasn't easy, but she finally managed to allow him to ride in her pocket, sneaking him into the hospital so that they could wait on further news. That's where another problem made itself known; Rufus was every bit as concerned about Ron as she was.

That should have been charming and comforting; it wasn't. Rufus was fidgety and alternated between pacing and resting...in her pocket. It order to get between her pocket and the floor, he had to climb out of her pocket, which looked so much like her clothing was giving birth to an abomination that her blood pressure jumped five points every time it happened. When he returned to her pocket, it was just as bad; seeing the naked rodent approaching made her grind her teeth. It didn't help that she was filthy, utterly exhausted and, she had to admit, more than a little frustrated. Time crawled by and despite circumstances and the uncomfortable chair, she dozed off. Rufus' diving into her pocket woke her with a start to see a young man, in medical scrubs, approaching.

"Are you Mr. Notatall's companion?" He asked her.

"His name is Ron Stoppable, and yes," she informed him.

"Oh, that's right. Never mind. I'm Doctor Tip. Let me tell you that he's in no danger of permanent injury at this time, he's healing, but it's rather strange."

Weiss' quirked eyebrow bade him to continue.

"I've handled injuries to huntsmen and student huntsmen before," the doctor informed her. "And although he's healing faster than normal, he isn't healing as fast as someone with an active aura should be healing."

"How badly has his aura been drained?"

"It was hovering around twenty percent when he first came in," the doctor told her. "It's charging slowly...slower than I would expect. However, it _is_ charging and he _is_ healing."

"His eyes?" She asked.

"Are healing, as well," he assured her. "We have to monitor the situation, but it appears that he will regain his vision. In fact, he should recover completely; just more slowly than I would expect."

"Can I see him now?" She asked.

"It wouldn't be a good idea," he told her. "He's asleep; the pain killers we gave him brought on drowsiness. I suggest that you come back tomorrow around ten or so. This will give me a chance to have an aura specialist examine him. If you don't mind me saying, you could use some rest, yourself."

Weiss thought about insisting on seeing Ron, but decided against it after a moment or two. The doctor was right, seeing him sleeping wouldn't help matters and she was in desperate need of both a shower and sleep. Nodding, she pulled out her scroll; actually, Rufus handed to her when her hand got close to her pocket, and summoned a taxi to take her to her hotel. While waiting for the cab, she contacted the hotel and arranged for a meal to be delivered to her suite. After a moment of thought, she also ordered a vegetarian plate for her current companion. Everything was under control until she reached the suite.

The food was arranged on her table, as instructed. However, she did not approve of Rufus climbing onto her table and expecting to dine on the table she was using. The rat was upset, but Weiss had standards; she carried the vegetarian plate to the table in Ron's suite and informed Rufus that he would be eating there. She made the mistake of pausing to make sure he understood, and wound up staring, transfixed, as he inhaled the entire meal. It was impossible! The assorted vegetables and cheese on his plate had more volume than his body, even if he were nothing but pink skin over a hollow space! Realizing that Ron was also able to ingest more food than seemed physically possible, she made a note to check if Earth beings had enhanced digestion and returned to her suite to enjoy her own meal.

She was famished and alone, so she didn't waste her time with proper manners. However, halfway through her meal, she heard a rustling sound traveling around Ron's suite. She kept her attention resolutely upon her meal, determined to not watch the gross rat poking around. However, when she was almost done, the faucet in Ron's bathroom turned on. Now curious, she walked in to see what was going on. She found Rufus standing in the sink, under the flowing faucet as if it were a shower. As he wasn't a large creature, it did not take him long to finish cleaning himself. When he was done, he climbed from the sink, turned off the water, and spotted the dumbfounded Weiss. Snatching up a washcloth, he wrapped it around his waist and chittered angrily her.

Chagrined and bemused at being scolded by a naked rat for seeing him while he was naked, she returned to her own rooms and took her own shower. Now feeling much better, she dried off, pulled on her nightgown and started to work on her hair with the complimentary blow-dryer. This was a fairly lengthy process, and she started to wonder what the rat while doing. Still drying her hair, she slipped out of the bathroom and made her way to Ron's suite.

The light was on in the bathroom, so she risked another quick peek. Rufus was standing on the counter, using the toothbrush from the complimentary travel bag to clean his large teeth. Again, Weiss could only stare at him, open-mouthed. He either heard her dryer or saw her reflection, because he spit out the toothpaste foam, leaned on the brush, almost like is was a staff, and gave her a beady-eyed stare.

"Just checking on you," Weiss told him, while wondering why he wasn't upset that she could see him naked now, but was upset that she saw him naked under the running water.

Shaking her head at the inconsistencies that rats displayed, she returned to her own bathroom and finished drying her hair. When she was done and stepped out of the bathroom, Rufus was standing in the doorway between the suites, giving her a sad-eyed look.

"What?" She demanded.

He hung his head, waved vaguely at Ron's suite and mumbled.

"You have an entire room to yourself!" She snapped at the rodent. "I am not sharing mine with you!"

"Scared," Rufus squeaked back to her. "All alone."

"Well I'm alone too," she informed him, after taking a moment to wonder at the fact that she wasn't freaked out about holding a conversation with a rat. However, Rufus gave her such a miserable look that she couldn't maintain her standards. "Fine, you can sleep on the couch! We'll use towels to make you a bed!"

Finally, after midnight, the lights were off and Weiss was in bed. Unfortunately, she wasn't asleep. Part of the problem was that she was thinking too much about the day's events; as a Schnee, she didn't hae the option of 'worrying about it in the morning'. Her father and sister demanded excellence, so sleeping on a problem, rather than analyzing it, was something she wasn't in the habit of doing. The other problem was that Rufus was sobbing. Heaving a sigh, she turned on the bedside lamp.

"What's wrong?" Her voice, bolstered by irritated exhaustion, came out quite harsh.

"Scared...alone...everybody gone"

Despite her better judgment, Weiss' heart broke for the rodent. He had been yanked into another world and the only one he really knew was injured and in a hospital. She looked at her luxurious, king-sized bed and considered her petite form.

"Okay, you can sleep in my bed, but keep over on your side!"

A series of happy chitters sounded as the little guy scampered across the room and climbed the blankets into the bed. As agreed, he stayed well away from her, but instead of curling up on the pillow or under the blankets, he lay down on his back with his head on the corner of a pillow. Wondering at this strange behavior, and the fact that she wasn't as freaked out as she should be for sharing a bed with a rat, she turned off the lights again and worked over her current situation in her mind. Sometime later, she realized what she would have to do. It wasn't easy, but she was a Schnee, and that meant making hard decisions. Her mind made up, she finally settled into a restless sleep.

* * *

Sometimes, you can actually catch a break.

Ruby thought about this, and about the thought that last year, catching a break would have been so obvious to her that she would have wondered why she even thought it couldn't happen. The long trek, the missions, seeing both the good and the bad of people had driven a great deal of her optimism away. Still, sitting in a truck and watching the miles go by, she felt more confident than she had since the bomb had gone off in BatiKiyisi.

Not half an hour ago, as she and Jaune were berating Flynt and Neon for keeping the watch all night and allowing the former Beacon Students to get a good night's sleep, a convoy from Soguk Su approached. While the relief supplies Weiss was sending from Atlas hadn't arrived yet, an agent of the Schnee Dust Company in Soguk Su had purchased everything of use he could get his hands on, then hired every cross-country vehicle he could locate, and sent the lot towards the devastated town. While there were a couple of huntsmen in the convoy, the student hunters were a welcome addition. Unfortunately, being able to sit and relax meant that her mind was able to work.

They were on their way towards a horrible situation; one that was caused by man, not by nature or grimm. Ruby could now realize just how naive she had been when she started Beacon. She had believed that except for a handful of bad guys, who would conveniently let her know that they were bad guys, the world was full of kindly people, ready to help each other.

Since then, she had learned better; there were still plenty of people willing to help each other, but there were more than she had ever imagined who would do anything to get what they wanted. The most sobering lesson she had learned was that you couldn't just look at someone and find out they were one of the latter. There were just enough bad people in the world that you had to be cautious of the good. The stories that she had read, the ones that had inspired her to become a huntress, had never mentioned this.

Beacon seemed like a lifetime ago; like it had happened to someone that she had read about. When all of this was over, would she be able to go back to being a student? Would all of this ever be over? Would the latest mission get them any closer to dealing with Cinder? Even if they dealt with Cinder, there was still this other person out there, Salem. How long would it take to deal with her? Ruby had the disturbing suspicion that even if she were to return to Beacon or to Patch, she was never going to be able to return to who she was before she set out on the quest.

"I see a smoke column to the north."

Jaune and Ruby both started as the report came over the truck's dashboard scroll. Automatically, they looked in the reported direction and could see the reported smudge on the horizon.

"Should we check it out?" Another voice asked. "The folks in BatiKiyisi need the supplies we're carrying."

"But we could be passing by someone else who needs assistance," a third voice chimed in.

"How about us?" They recognized Flynt's voice over the airwaves. "If you can spare one vehicle, the student hunters can investigate and catch up with you at BatiKiyisi."

"That's sounds like a good idea," another voice, that they recognized as the Schnee Dust Company Agent, called. "It might be something important. Whatever it is, perhaps there's someone there who observed the incident from a closer vantage point than our current witnesses. Trucks with the student hunters, pull over to the side. Surucu, stay with the students while the hunters replace the students on the trucks."

Ahead of them, Ruby and Jaune saw another truck pull over to the side of the road, even as their own truck did so. The remaining trucks continued, although at a slower pace, while an all terrain vehicle pulled up next to the two trucks. Four hunters clambered out of the smaller vehicle while the four students climbed out of the trucks. The leader of the hunter team was a lean woman with a nasty scar that led from her right eye to the corner of her unsmiling mouth. She had a few words with Flynt, reminding him that while his mission was to check out the smoke column, it was more important to get his team to BatiKiyisi in one piece. They would be needed at the devastated town, so falling to grimm or bandits wasn't acceptable. Flynt assured her that he understood and the two shared a quick nod before the hunters mounted the trucks. Ruby and her companions piled their packs into the smaller vehicle's cargo bed and climbed inside.

The driver had some skill; all of Team FNRJ could tell, even though none of them could drive. He took his time, working his way off of the road, through trees and up slopes for perhaps six kilometers before the trees became too thick and the slopes too steep and rugged for the vehicle to make it through. "This is as far as I can take it," he informed Flynt.

"Okay, stay with the vehicle," he informed the man. "We'll go the rest of the way on foot."

"Not likely," the driver snorted. "If grimm or bandits show up and I'm alone, I'm a dead man. I'm coming with you."

Team FNRJ couldn't argue with the man, and he quickly proved that he knew his business. Picking a very high tree nearby, he tied a hammer to a long rope and threw the tool over a branch. He then used the rope to hoist a bright, scarlet banner into the air.

"We'll be able to find the vehicle easier," he told the team, as he pulled his backpack out of the cargo bed. Acknowledging the clever, if very common sense precaution, Team FNRJ hoisted their own packs and set course towards the smoke. Every couple of hundred steps, the driver tied a strip of red cloth to a tree and again, the teens had to admit that it was a wise precaution, taking very little effort.

The party traveled like this for two hours before they heard frustrated growls, and the screeching of claws on metal, that indicated that dark creatures were trying to force their way into some sort of structure. The team crept carefully through the wooded hills until they could carefully peak over a ridge. On the other side of a very narrow draw, several ursa were trying to batter their way into what appeared to be the front section of an aircraft. After observing for a few minutes, the team slid back down the ridge so that they could converse.

"Okay, it's some kind of aircraft," Jaune said.

"Actually, it's the command compartment of an Atlesian command airship," Neon told him. Ruby and Jaune just stared at her.

"The academy and the military are combined in Atlas," Flynt reminded the two from Vale. "We're trained to recognize military equipment. When you see a command ship, you know that a highly trained and professional commander is coming onto the seen to put things into proper order."

Again, Jaune and Ruby just looked at him.

"Well, that's what the teachers say," he shrugged. "Anyway, the command compartment is the most heavily armored section of the ship."

"And there are probably people in there, otherwise the grimm wouldn't be trying to break in," Jaune said.

"The Schnee agent told us to not take risks, but if someone's in there, it's a risk worth taking," Neon pointed out. "So what's the plan?"

"There's only a handful of ursa, so should be able to take care of them without much trouble," Flynt announced. "We'll handle it like we did the last fight; Ruby and Jaune will hit the center, Neon takes the left and I take the right."

"What about me?" The driver asked.

"Keep an eye to the rear," Flynt instructed. "Let us know if anything tries to sneak up behind us."

There was no need for more discussion. Jaune opened his shield and led the way, striding purposefully over the ridge and down into the draw. Halfway to down the slope, the ursa spotted the oncoming party and charged. Jaune didn't slow, he continued his deliberate pace until the lead ursa reached the bottom of the draw, then he picked up his pace to meet them. Several months ago, when grimm swarmed vale through the opening Roman Torchwick had blasted through an abandoned subway tunnel, Jaune backed away from the first ursa to approach him. He had come a long way from that time.

He sped up until he was moving at a sprint, meeting the lead grimm with his shield. The creature was sent tumbling back. Ruby slipped around his right side, slashing twice at the next creature, chopping off a foreleg. It came after the reaper, who slipped behind Jaune. The blonde stabbed into its torso while Ruby emerged from his left side to decapitate the creature he had knocked down earlier, then take an ear off of the next ursa. Slipping back behind Jaune, she noted that Neon had already froze an ursa's paw to a tree, Flynt used his trumpet to send two more tumbling away for the moment.

Closer to home, the grimm she had just cut slashed at Jaune, who caught the blow on his shield and stabbed into a rear leg. Ruby slipped back around him, finishing the maimed creature with three powerful slashes while Jaune blocked another grimm's jaws with his shield. He clubbed it with his pommel, sending it staggering backwards, giving Ruby an easy shot at the stunned creature's neck.

"Neon, back!" Flynt called. The agile girl executed a series of backwards handsprings as the creature she had immobilized earlier broke free and pursued her. Neon led the creature to the waiting Jaune and Ruby, who easily dispatched it while Flynt swatted one of the two remaining grimm with his sound waves. Again, a single ursa approached Ruby and Jaune. Not willing to wait for the last of the ursa to actually come to them, Ruby rushed up and dispatched the last beast while her companions approached the aircraft. There, they ran into another problem.

There were only two access hatches on the compartment; one had originally connected to the remainder of the aircraft while the other was an exterior hatch. Both were sealed from the inside. Simply knocking did not generate a response. Their initial attempts to batter their way into the craft were unsuccessful; bulkheads intended to withstand heavy cannon did not yield easily to nun-chucks, swords, scythes or sound waves.

"Are we sure someone's in there?" The driver finally asked.

"Can we live with ourselves if we don't make sure?" Jaune asked.

"I know!" Neon declared. She put her ear to a bulkhead and thumped it several times with her nun-chucks Moments later, her eyes flew wide. "I can hear movement in there!" She declared. "Okay, it might be echoes or it might be debris shifting..."

"But it might be someone who's so badly injured that they can't open a hatch," Flynt finished. "Okay, we have to get inside, no matter what."

"We have something we've been working on," Ruby told the two from Atlas, as she shared a rather uneasy look with Jaune. The blonde boy heaved a deep sigh, but realized it was something that needed to be done.

"Just what?" Flynt asked.

"Something violent, painful and probably stupid," Jaune told him. "I think you better back away from the compartment and keep watch. This is going to be noisy."

Jaune took up a position roughly forty meters from the hatch while Ruby backed away even further, keeping him in line between her and the hatch. With somewhat bemused expressions, Flynt, Neon and the driver backed away, farther and farther, their expressions switching to horrified anticipation, until Jaune waved for them to stop when they were one hundred meters away. At Jaune's nod, Ruby burst into motion.

Ruby activated her semblance, blazing into hyper speed. The observers saw her form morph into a red comet, trailing rose petals, that shot straight at Jaune. Upon encountering the blonde, she grabbed him and carried him with her. Now, they appeared as a red and a white comet, swirling around each other as they sped towards the hatch. Mere feet away, Ruby released Jaune and jumped over the compartment while Jaune, shield leading, crashed into the hatch.

A loud clang sounded and the entire compartment rocked. Jaune sprawled backwards to lay, dazed, on the ground. Ruby faded back into normal speed and rushed back towards her teammate while the other three closed in to see the effects.

"The hatch is rattling," Flynt told them, once Ruby got Jaune back to a sitting position. "But we still can't open it. We can keep battering it..."

"Or Ruby can hit it with me again," Jaune interrupted. "We don't know how badly whomever is in there is injured. We can't wait."

"But if you're injured..." Flynt protested.

"My aura's still at seventy percent," Jaune told him.

"We can't risk you!"

"You aren't risking me!" Jaune insisted. "I took one hit, I can take another."

Flynt was clearly reluctant when he nodded and led Neon and the driver back to their observation point. Jaune heaved himself to his feet and nodded to Ruby, who was also reluctant as she returned to her start point. All too soon for her they were ready to repeat the performance. Once again, she burst forward and scooped up the blonde man. Once again she released him to hammer against the hatch. Once again, he sprawled back while the entire compartment rocked in place. Once again, Ruby rushed back to Jaune while Neon and Flynt rushed to see if they had access to the interior.

Ruby's face was both troubled in intrigued as she helped Jaune to sit up again. A short way away, the other three staggered back from the hatch.

"It's open," Flynt gasped, since Neon was gagging too hard to speak. "But the smell! We saw dead people in there and the compartment has been in the hot sun for more than a full day."

Jaune's hand suddenly seized Ruby's, and she felt the hard pull as he heaved himself to his feet. A look of supreme determination came over his face as he staggered towards the aircraft. Ruby was at his side, even though the stench seemed to strike them like a physical blow. Their faces set, the two wrenched the hatch open the rest of the way and staggered inside. Gagging, they looked around at the decaying bodies and saw movement. Stumbling deeper into the horrid air, they saw one hand moving weakly. Eyes almost shut against the smell, Jaune and Ruby discovered the weak, helpless, but somehow alive General Ironwood.

* * *

Weiss walked down the hospital corridor, counting off the rooms until she reached her goal. She carried a handbag, which she had just purchased from the hotel that morning. Fortunately, the hospital staff didn't see fit to search her belongings, otherwise the contents, or more to the point the passenger, would have freaked them out. Finding the correct door, she paused, looking inside. Ron was covered in light bandages, but there was no monitoring equipment hooked to him. She took that as a good sign. He stirred, looking towards the door. She noted that his face was also bandaged and he wore disposable eye shades, similar to what optometrists used when they dilated a patient's pupils.

"Who's there?" He asked. Weiss realized that her heels must have made some noise on the hard floor and when she stopped, he realized that someone was close by.

"It's me, Weiss," she murmured, walking into the room.

"Can you turn the lights on?" He asked.

"They are," she pointed out.

"Okay, these shades are hard to see through," he told her. "I can only see shapes, no details so far."

"But you can see?" She asked. "Ron, that's...wonderful."

"Yeah, the doctor says I'll recover, that I'm healing faster than I would without aura but not as fast as I should with aura."

"So, did you get a prognosis?" She asked.

"Yeah, full recovery...in a few days."

She reached out and lightly patted his hand. Rufus took that opportunity to climb out of her handbag. She somehow kept from flinching as he used her arm as a bridge to get to Ron's bed and scramble up to stand next to his ear.

"Rufus!" He showed intense joy at the rat's presence, holding up a finger so the rodent could slap it with a palm. Weiss shook her head, a gesture that she realized was probably lost on him.

"We need to talk," she told him.

"That doesn't sound good," he grumbled.

"It might not be," she agreed. "I sometimes forget that you aren't a trained hunter, that even though you are slightly older than me, this world and its physical laws are still unfamiliar to you."

He looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"What happened last night..."

"I'm sorry," he interrupted.

"Sorry?" She was confused, then realized what he was talking about. "No," she shook her head. "I am not talking about...that. I mean, when you disappeared and were suddenly back on Earth. How did it feel just before you made the transfer?"

"I felt...right," he struggled to find the correct term. "Like I was doing something that I was meant to do."

"Somewhat like finally sneezing, when you've been building towards it for a couple of minutes?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, that's the best way I can describe it."

"It is what I suspected," she announced. "That was your semblance."

"So my semblance is the ability to go back and forth between Earth and Remnant?"

"I do not believe so," she told him. "If you were controlling it, you would have returned long ago and you..." she caught her breath. "You would not have come back to Remnant, would you?"

"I...no," he admitted.

"At least you are honest," she murmured. A deep breath to brace herself and she was all business again. "I believe that...Kim...must have called you to her. When I awoke your aura, I had a glimpse into your soul and learned that when someone who is special to you needs you, you go to them. You said that you arrived in the middle of a dire situation, when grimm were attacking her. I believe that she truly needed you at that time and the bond you share triggered your semblance to take you to her."

Weiss' voice grew weaker, more hollow as she made her statement.

"I'm sure that if it were simply a matter of her wanting you with her, you would have been called back a long time ago. It seems that your semblance only activates if she is in dire need."

"Then why did I return?" He asked.

"I do not know," she sobbed.

"Weiss, what's wrong?"

She took her time before responding. A Schnee through and through, she had carefully worked out her statements so that she could present her feelings to him in a logical manner. Yet now, standing next to him, the words didn't want to come out. Perhaps it was best that she couldn't see his face, only a mass of gauze and the black lenses of the glasses. If she had to see his expression, look into his eyes...

"What...was happening before you returned to Earth..." she finally managed to say.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated.

"Why?" She asked again.

"Well, we were just a couple of minutes from..." He let the statement hang in the air between them.

"We were _several_ minutes from it, but you haven't answered my question. Why are you sorry about this incident?"

"I shouldn't have done what I was doing," he told her. "It was wrong of me."

"It was wrong of _you_?" She was incredulous. "I was there! I was participating! It wasn't something that you were doing to me!"

"But, you're upset now," he pointed out. "That means that I shouldn't have been..."

"Ron, do you think that I was incapable of saying no if I did not want to do or continue what we were doing?" She was infuriated with him, which made speaking easier. "I am a huntress! I have fought grimm, terrorists and mechanical war machines! You are incapable of _forcing_ me to take such actions and you are incapable of _manipulating_ me into such actions. I was doing what I was doing because I wanted to!"

The discussion stopped for a couple of minutes as Weiss regained control of her temper. She realized that he wasn't deliberately being cruel or condescending; he was taking full responsibility for an action that they could have both regretted taking. In his mind, he was being responsible, or perhaps the customs on Earth placed full responsibility for such interactions on the man.

"I am not some sheltered princess," she finally told him. "I am not so meek that as soon as a man puts his arms around me, I allow him to have his way. I am also not some animal with no control of her urges. I knew what I was doing and you were not forcing me to do it!"

"Okay...I'm sorry about thinking that way," he whispered. "It was arrogant of me. Maybe it was the emotions at the time, the..."

"No," she interrupted him again, even though her voice was much more reasonable. "I won't take the easy but false explanation, even though you are offering it to me right now. I can be honest with myself and with you. Both of us deserve that. I'll admit right now that I felt a strong attraction to you; I considered you my friend, my comrade and I felt a strong romantic attraction to you."

Ron's head moved slightly and again, Weiss was glad that she couldn't see his expression.

"The situation, the emotion, just enabled the incident," she continued. "We might not have done what we did if it weren't for the situation, but the situation wouldn't have prompted us to act like that if we both didn't want to in the first place."

Ron's head dropped and Weiss swore she could feel the shame radiating from him.

"Don't be ashamed," she told him. "I...take it as a compliment. Maybe some of it was my fault."

"No..." he protested.

"Ron, let me finish," she insisted. "I've never really been close to a man before you. Yes, Oskar and I were intimate, but we never faced the world like the two of us have. I never realized how much someone could compliment me, make me complete. Whenever I had to be demanding, you were able to be understanding. When I had to be a boss, you were able to be a friend. When I contented myself with form and flawless execution, you forced me to innovate. I know I did much the same to you, that we made each other better people and that the two of us together were always better than just the sum of the two of us."

"Yes, you were attracted to me, just like I was attracted to you,' she continued. "You were also convinced that you would never get back...to her...again. The fact that you held out hope...that you wouldn't give up until all possibilities of your return were eliminated...says a great deal about your loyalty. Neither of us have anything to be ashamed of. We didn't act on our feelings until we both knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your previous life was in your past."

She paused, collecting her thoughts for the final push.

"Pride is a strange thing," she told him, unable to prevent a slight sob from sounding in her voice. "It can push us beyond our limits, it can keep us going when all hope is gone, but it can also disrupt something good. Ron, I'm still attracted to you, I still desire you, but you belong to someone else. You are, both literally and metaphorically, at the call of another girl. I can accept that from a friend, but I can't accept that from someone who I want to be..." She took another breath. "I have to keep my distance from now on. I just can't..."

"Once we're back in Atlas, I'll move back to the Academy," he assured her.

"That won't be necessary," she assured him. "I just can't..."

"Weiss," he gently interrupted. "You're not the only one that's gone through this. I never thought that I could be the cause."

Weiss arched an eyebrow but, after a minute or so, realized that he couldn't see detail enough to allow the non-verbal communication to work. "Please explain," she prompted him.

"For what felt like so long, I wanted to be more than friends with Kim," he told her. "But I was never a guy to her. I was just...Ron...her friend and the guy that she grew up with. It hurt so much whenever she had a crush, or was dating someone. Seeing her every day, talking to her, going on missions...just tore me apart, but I couldn't turn away." His covered eyes oriented directly upon her again. "So yes, I have to move out of your mansion. It's going to hurt you too much to have to deal with me all of the time and it will hurt me, as well."

"You?"

"Yes," even with his eyes covered, he couldn't bring himself to look at her. "I...wanted you. Knowing that I allowed myself to think that the two of us could be..."

"Ron, let's be honest with each other," she interrupted him. "What almost happened between us last night might have skipped a few steps, but we were heading in that direction anyway."

"That's why I have to leave," he stressed. "We're both going to be reminded of what could have been."

"I think it's going to hurt more if you're gone," Weiss' voice sounded like a little girl's.

"So we have to figure things out?" He asked.

"Yes," she admitted.

It was a tense silence between them; Weiss was relieved when a polite knock sounded on the door.

"Ah, Mr. Stoppable," a middle-aged man in a surgeon's scrubs addressed him. "And you must be his companion, Miss Schnee."

"I am," Weiss offered him a polite nod.

"And what is _that_!" He demanded, with a hard look at Ron's pillow.

"Who, not what!" Rufus corrected him, with a very angry tone.

"I'd like you to meet my friend, Rufus," Ron introduced the two.

"We don't allow pets in the hospital," the doctor informed him.

"Not a pet!" Rufus was now standing on his hind legs, his forelegs crossed in front of him and an angry glare on his face.

"Doc, it's too complicated to explain. Will you accept that Rufus is a service animal? He can accept that and it makes things easier for everyone."

"Very well," the doctor still looked suspiciously at the rat. "Mr. Stoppable, my name is Doctor Fizikci, and I am a specialist in aura. I examined you last night and have been monitoring your healing and your aura recovery. I am also aware of your, shall we say unique point of origin."

"As in I'm not from Remnant?" Ron asked.

"Exactly," the doctor informed him. "Mr. Stoppable, does anyone on your home planet have an active aura?"

"No," Ron shook his head. "I didn't know what it was until I got here."

"I have been exchanging some correspondence with a Dr. Physiker in Atlas," Dr. Fizikci continued. "And she's told me about her efforts to focus in on the reality you came from. She tells me that there are energies that we just don't understand in some other realities...and she states that we probably have energies that don't exist in yours."

"Like Aura," Ron concluded.

"Yes, and this poses a problem for you." The doctor took a deep breath. "Mr. Stoppable, Dr. Physiker will have some news to tell you about your warnings against an energy you call radiation. To make a long story short, such energy simply cannot exist on Remnant; it gets converted to something else."

"What?" Ron asked.

"And what does this have to do with aura and his injuries?" Weiss asked.

"Mr. Stoppable, it appears that in your reality...Aura doesn't protect you, it harms you."

While Ron's dumbfounded look was wasted by his bandages and his shades, Weiss' expression got the doctor's attention.

"Dr. Physiker and I can't be completely certain," Fizikci continued. "But I'm expert enough to recognize your injuries as consisting of the unique mixture of burn and abrasion that indicates an aura injury. I understand that while you were shirtless and barefoot when you were on Earth, even those portions of your skin that were covered by your clothing and hair, even your eyes, were injured. Mr. Stoppable, it appears that much as radiation functions differently on Remnant than it does on Earth, aura functions differently on Earth than it does on Remnant. On Earth, your own aura turned on you. I believe that when you performed the task you were sent to achieve, your semblance returned you to Remnant and out of harm. Judging by the severity of your injuries, I don't think that you could survive more than a half hour on Earth."

The silence that followed was very short, but seemed to last forever.

"Is there any way of turning off my aura?" Ron asked.

"No," both Weiss and the doctor answered at the same time.

"Once an aura is awakened, it's awake for the rest of your life," the doctor informed him.

"You mean, even if I could find my way home, I can't go there?" Ron's voice trembled as he spoke. The slight shake of his body showed the intensity of his emotions.

"It seems not," the doctor had the good manners to lower both his gaze and his voice as he presented the bad news.

Weiss reached out a hand, wanting to place it on Ron's shoulder to show her support for him...but that hand suddenly went to her own mouth as a horrible realization came over her.

"I'm so sorry!" She managed to keep her voice level, but a tear had already found its way out of her eye.

"Sorry?" Ron's voice was no more than a hesitant whisper as he turned his face towards her.

"I'm the one who activated your aura!" She sobbed. "I'm the reason you can't go home! I'm...sorry."

Despite the fact that a Schnee faces her problems, Weiss turned and fled the room.

* * *

Misery loves company.

Perhaps the hospital's rehabilitation staff had heard the saying, or maybe they just figured that since Nora and Yang were friends and had similar injuries, they would be better off rehabilitating together. For whatever reason, the two friends found themselves in the Physical Therapy Room, stretching out and wincing.

"Your bones, muscles and ligaments are healing," the therapist told them. "But we have to stretch and flex your muscles. Otherwise, they will heal in a constricted position and getting them to expand will be much more difficult...and painful."

"Hey, I understand the concept," Yang gasped, gasping against the pain as the therapist pulled on her heel and bent back her toes, forcing her injured leg to stretch to its furthest extent. "I'm just mad that it isn't as much fun for me as it is for her."

Yang smirked at Nora, who was receiving much the same attention from Ren. Even though the ginger girl was grimacing at the pain, she clearly enjoyed the feeling as Ren's hands slid along her calf and thigh, keeping her joints in proper alignment as her muscles and tendons extended. Ren quickly looked flustered and Nora blushed. Yang noted that that seemed to be the theme for the day; Ren looking surprised and flustered, and Nora blushing.

"That's enough stretching," the therapist declared. He was looking a little flustered, himself. "Now it's time for the walking exercises."

He assisted Yang, while Ren helped Nora. Soon the two young women were standing at a pair of parallel bars, ready to walk down the length.

"Remember, this isn't a race," he told them. "You're just going to walk the length, putting a little bit of weight on your injured legs. Doing it fast won't make the therapy any more effective."

"Aw, what's the fun without a little competition?" Nora groused.

"No fair," Yang shot back. "If Ren stands at the far end, you'll scoot towards him faster than a goose taking a s-"

"You're never going to let this go, are you?" Nora shook her head at the blonde, although she did take a careful step, resting a little of her weight on her limb.

"Not a chance," Yang informed her, happily.

The therapist looked both amused and confused at the same time, which also gave Yang a kick. Despite the trash talking, the two young women were fit and determined to get back on their feet, so they went right to their walking. Yang continued to make innuendos about what Nora would be doing with Ren once she had a little privacy, while Nora shot back that the blonde was jealous that she had no prospects of doing any such thing any time soon. Ren, of course, looked ready to bolt in terror. With the good natured ribbing, the two hours set aside for light exercise were quickly over, and Yang and Nora were both on crutches and on their way back to their room. Upon arriving, Ren made sure that Nora was comfortable and asked if either of the girls would need anything from outside the hospital. Once he had the short list, Nora insisted that he head out and get a decent meal for himself.

"Yang and I'll be fine," Nora waved him towards the door. "We'll just play a couple of video games."

"Very well, just call if you need me," Ren turned to leave.

"Hey, you can't just walk off!" Yang protested. "Not after last night!"

With a nervous smile, Ren leaned down and shared a short, yet meaningful kiss with his newfound girlfriend before leaving.

As per Nora's promise, she and Yang were quickly playing a video game against each other. After a few minutes, Yang decided to broach a topic.

"I hope the two of you don't mind the grief I'm giving you," she told the other girl. On the room's screen, her digital ninja avoided a strike from Nora's digital samurai. "I'm glad the two of you got together and it's really no business of mine how far you take this. It's just..."

"It's just that it's too good of an opportunity for some jokes," Nora finished for her, as her samurai unleashed a series of cross body slashes, forcing Yang's ninja to retreat. "I don't mind, as long as you keep it funny...or at least as funny as you ever get."

"Ooooh!" Yang winced, theatrically at the dig, even as her ninja ducked under the samurai's latest attack and landed a quick thrust, that bounced off the samurai's armor. "There's something else I have to say, and apologizing has never been my strength."

Nora looked at her companion and Yang didn't even take the opportunity to strike down her digital character. Both ninja and Samurai stood on the screen, staring at each other as their controllers now faced each other.

"I jumped on the two of you yesterday," Yang explained. "Saying that Jaune was making some sort of move on Ruby and the two of you weren't doing anything about it. I should have gotten the full explanation before I reacted."

"Hey, you were shook up and tired," Nora waved it off. "It was an emotional time."

"Yeah, but I didn't thank you," Yang told her. "You, Ren and Jaune will get the flowery thing when you all get together, but you're here now. Back on Patch, I was in a dark place after losing my arm and dad was trying to get through to me, so he didn't have much time to try to get Ruby out of her own dark place. Her way of dealing was to do something and when she needed someone, and me and Dad weren't there for her like we should have been, you guys were. You were her family when we didn't act like her family. I can't say how much I appreciate it."

"Thanks," Nora actually blushed at the praise. "But you might want to have a talk with your Uncle Qrow. He manipulated her into the trip."

"Don't think that I won't," Yang assured her. "After what you guys went through..."

"Time out!" The game declared. On the room's viewing screen, a ninja and samurai were staring balefully at the two girls.

"I'm hoping I can get everyone together and exchange stories before too much longer," Yang said. "There are too many secrets and we're all supposed to be on the same side."

"I agree," Nora nodded. "Now, do you wanna start over?"

"You bet."

On the screen, the ninja and samurai had just closed on each other when another party rushed into the room.

"Weiss!" Yang greeted her old teammate, allowing the Samurai to deliver a massive blow to the ignored ninja.

"What's wrong?" Yang demanded, for as soon as Weiss entered the room, Yang could see that there were tear streaks on her face and her eyes were red and swollen.

"I...need a favor," Weiss told the blonde.

"Of course, but what's wrong?"

"I need to get away from here," Weiss told her.

"But why?"

"It's complicated," Weiss said. "You said that you were hired to defend Kuchinashi and that Winter is there. I want to go there."

"Neptune got me the job," Yang told her. "I can give you his number but please, tell me what's going on!"

"I...need some time to think," Weiss told her. "Helping down south, where a huntress is needed, might be what I need to clear my head."

"But..."

"Please!" Weiss pleaded. "Don't ask me to explain things just now!"

"Okay..." Yang held up her scroll and Weiss copied the contact information.

"I have to go," Weiss told her. "Just...someone check on Ron after I leave."

"What's wrong with Ron?" Nora asked.

"He was hurt...during a mission. It's my fault and I just can't deal with him right now. I need to do something good before I can face him again."

"If you're out to do something good," a voice drawled, behind her. She spun to see Qrow Branwen, with his usual smirk on his face and Ren standing next to him.

"I've got a vital and dangerous task to take care of." He told her, in his usual, insolent voice. "Who knows, if we succeed, you might even save your sister's life."

* * *

 _A/N: As always, my thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._


	31. Chapter 31

"So what are we doing here?" Weiss was faced with the challenge of making a demand while keeping her voice low.

"We're sneaking into Headmaster Lionheart's office," Qrow drawled, from the dark stairway ahead of her. "I told you that before we left the hospital."

"I know _what_ we're doing!" She hissed back, rolling her eyes before realizing that the gesture was wasted on a man who's back was towards her. "I want to know _why_ we are doing it!"

"Okay, I guess you'll all learn sooner or later," Qrow sighed. He waved the small party together. "It's better we get this over with now, rather than have surprises when it all hits the fan, so to speak."

Weiss stood next to Qrow, as she was the shortest of the four people he had assisting him right now and she had no intention of not looking him in the eye when he told his tale. Ren stopped next to her, while the two burly, rough-looking men; that he had gathered from where he chose not to say where, stood behind, and below, the two students. Next to him was the young boy that had been keeping very tight-lipped. Zwei stayed below the party, observing their back-trail.

"I'm not going to tell all the details," the huntsman drawled, after taking a quick swig from his flask. "You won't believe me if I tell you the truth. All of us here have active aura, so we know what semblances are. I can say that I suspect that the headmaster has fallen under the influence of someone who wants to see Mistral fall. Whoever this is has convinced Lionheart that he needs to stress the need to defend Mistral against Atlas, even if it means leaving the southern borders vulnerable. I...have a way of countering this influence, but it's going to take some uninterrupted time with the man."

"What you are saying," Ren concluded. "Is that we must break into the headmaster's offices, overcome whomever may be influencing him and hold off a school's worth of skilled faculty while you somehow determine the method of influence and overcome it. After this, we must hope that the headmaster is able to convince his employees and any responding police that there was no actual attack."

"Well, it doesn't sound very logical when you put it that way," Qrow shrugged, smirking sarcastically.

"How should I describe the mission?" Ren asked.

"We're out to save Mistral, and by extension, all of Remnant," the huntsman grinned. "Isn't this what you wanted to do with your life?"

"I find it curious that you are recruiting students to accompany you," while Ren's voice was calm and reasonable, his gaze was intense.

"Kid, I couldn't put anything else together in time," Qrow admitted, now he looked deadly serious. "Most of the huntsmen are either on the north coast or in Windhaven. All sorts of grief is closing in on Kuchinashi and I don't have time to run to Windhaven, recruit, and come back. That's part of being a huntsman, sometimes you have to take a chance and try to do the right thing even though the odds are against you. That's what we're doing here."

"We understand," Weiss interrupted, noting that the two other adult men, presumably huntsmen, were looking more than a little tired with the explanations. "We're in, but I want to know what you want each of us to do when it all starts. If we get in each others way, we're not going to do anyone any good."

"Okay, that's a good point from the ice princess," Qrow admitted. "If our guesses are correct, the guy who put the whammy on Lionheart is a guy called Doctor Watts. His semblance is suggestion and he's a capable fighter, as well. He's a middle-aged guy, tall, has a mustache that Professor Port would envy and more arrogance than me and Ozpin put together."

Weiss noted that the boy, Oscar, seemed to flinch at the last statement.

"He's also a pretty serious customer," Qrow continued. "When we get in there, you leave him to me if he's there. The two huntsman that are with me will subdue Lionheart while the two students deal with anyone else and make sure nobody else comes to play. Zwei will keep an eye on our back-trail, making sure nobody comes up behind us."

"What about Oscar?" Weiss demanded. "Why have him along?"

"Oscar is going to have a little chat with Lionheart once we subdue him." Qrow informed her. "So we have to keep the kid safe...er...as safe as we can...through this little adventure."

"But..." Weiss started to complain.

"We don't have time for lengthy discussions," Qrow interrupted her. "And we don't know who, or what, all we're gonna run into up there. This isn't enough intel for a proper military raid...the sort that Atlas prefers, but we sometimes you just have to wing it. One more thing; once it all starts, nobody comes anywhere near me, you all stay as far away from me as you can. Do you understand?"

"But what..." Weiss asked.

"There's no time for further discussion! Do you understand this or do I have to repeat it?"

Weiss was tempted to dig in her feet and argue, but Qrow's gaze was so intense, so serious, that it cut through even the dim illumination.

"I understand," she grumbled.

"Fine," he informed the small party. "Oscar, I believe this is where you're going to have to lead."

For a few moments, the boy looked very distracted, like he was listening to a whisper that only he could hear. This delay gave Weiss a chance to study her former partner's uncle. While her previous interactions with the drunken huntsman had been limited, he had usually acted in a humorously belligerent manner. On the stairway, somewhere in Haven Academy's administration building, he was all business.

"It's supposed to be up another flight, then on the right hand side," the boy told him.

"Alright, I'm leading," Qrow told him. "You're behind me and our students are next. The hired hands bring up the rear and Zwei is the rear guard."

The two rough men smirked at their titles, but they fell in behind the group. For all his drunkenness, Qrow slid up the stairs like a shadow. Ren was as graceful as ever and the two 'hired hands' were incredibly quiet for their size. The most noise was made by the boy and Weiss, making her wonder again why she chose heels to fight in.

"Stop," Oscar whispered, after another flight of stairs had slipped by under their feet. The boy stood for a moment, then pointed to the side of the staircase. "That tile."

The tile in question showed the Mistral symbol, in bronze mounted on marble, as had several such tiles on the walls during their climb. Looking curious, Qrow grabbed the flame-shape in the center of the symbol and twisted. The inner circle rotated and a click sounded from the wall next to the symbol. Qrow pulled on the symbol and a section of the wall hinged outward, revealing a very narrow stairway leading up and away from the one that they were on.

"This leads to a storage closet in Headmaster Lionheart's offices," Oscar announced.

"Interesting that a boy of your age would know this," Ren commented, in his calm voice.

"That's not something we need to discuss right now," Qrow told him. "From now on, it's quiet time. If anyone needs to speak, it's in a whisper with your mouth right on someone's ear. Let's go."

The usually drunken huntsman lead the way, his feet light and as silent as feathers on the stairs. Oscar was right behind him, surprisingly quiet in his heavy work boots. Ren was next, making not a sound. Behind her, the burly, hired muscle were also quiet which left her frustrated. In her mind at least, her heels made a ridiculous racket on the stairs. Why was the smallest and lightest member of the party making the most noise? Weiss was so busy concentrating on her footsteps that she didn't realize that the party had reached its goal until she plowed her face into the small of Ren's back. Despite the dim light, she winced at the irritated look the usually taciturn young man gave her. A moment later, he crouched to listen to Oscar whispering into his hear, then motioned for Weiss to lean close to him.

"We are just outside of the headmaster's office," he whispered to her. "Qrow is about to break in. Remember what each of us is tasked to do, and the overall mission. It could get unpredictable once we are inside. Pass the word to the next in line."

Nodding, Weiss turned to one of the rough-looking men behind her. She whispered into an ear that was half missing. As she relayed the message, she realized that the ear hadn't been sliced off; the edges were ragged, indicating either claws or teeth had removed the flesh. Flinching, she waiting while the man first nodded, then whispered to the man behind him. He then turned and gave her a thumbs up signal. Weiss turned and gave the same signal to Ren, who turned to give this signal to Oscar. A few moments later, light shown from ahead and above as Qrow opened some sort of doorway. Then Ren was moving forward.

Weiss was on his heels as he took two steps up then turned sharply to his right. He had to duck, but Weiss only had to crouch slightly, to sweep through the low, narrow door and into what appeared to be a comfortable, private study. Before she could study more, a shout ahead of her, then a poke between the shoulders to get her to clear the doorway and let the hired blades into the room, sent her scrambling to one side.

She had a glimpse of the room, two walls supported large, filled bookshelves while another had a large window that overlooked both Haven Academy and Mistral City. The final wall contained the disguised door that they had just slipped through and another door. The sudden clang of metal on metal drew her attention to another detail in the room; a tall man wearing what appeared to be a uniform, squaring off against Qrow.

It must have been the Doctor Watts that Qrow had mentioned. He indeed had a mustache that Professor Port would have envied, if for no other reason than it hadn't faded to gray yet. Qrow unleashed a double slash so quick that the heiress could barely see his saber, yet the tall man adroitly sidestepped the first and pulled a swagger stick out of his cloak, with which he blocked the second. The spun and lashed out, forcing the huntsman back.

"Get on with it!" Qrow snarled at his team. "Keep away from me!"

One of the hired blades threw open the room's only door and rushed through, followed by the other. Oscar was on his heels, with Ren following, pulling his pistol blades from his belt as he rushed through. Weiss risked one last look at Qrow; Watts' swagger stick was crackling with electrical energy, which shot at the huntsman. Qrow deflected the bolt; which nearly struck Weiss.

"Get out of here!" Qrow demanded. Weiss turned and rushed through the door.

She found herself in what must be the headmaster's conference room; a large table dominated the center of the space. Three were jumping up from chairs, one of them at the head of the table. The two hired swords rushed his man while Ren closed upon one of the others and Oscar hustled to a corner. Weiss rushed towards the last of the room's occupants. Here, she faced a paradox.

The woman who was struggling to her feet was unarmed. Was she a teacher and huntress, or and administrator with no aura? If Weiss were to stab with her rapier, she could cripple or kill an innocent person! Of course, if her target was a teacher, she was innocent anyway! What to do?

Making a quick decision, Weiss lashed with Myrtenaster's hilt and caught her target in the belly. The woman crumpled around the blow, indicating that she didn't have an active aura. Weiss put the woman out of her mind and jumped onto the table to decide where to go next. The man she assumed was Headmaster Lionheart was tangled up with the two hired men...who clearly possessed a great deal of skill. One of the men was armed with a pair of kama while the other had a pair of sai. The headmaster was armed with an ax, but the two men pressed in close, preventing him from using it effectively. She couldn't jump into that melee without getting in the way, so she looked towards Ren.

Ren was struggling with his opponent, who was armed with a short spear. The man twirled the weapon, swatting Ren's blades out of the way and trowing a quick kick at the young man. Ren twisted, taking the blow on his thigh and kicking towards his opponent's head. The man twisted, avoided the kick and responded with an elbow to the younger man's jaw. Ren staggered back, but Weiss stepped in, parrying the spear and sliding her blade along the haft, scoring a cut on the teacher's hand. She spun away from a knee thrust and tried a spinning kick and thrust combination. The teacher ducked the kick, parried the thrust and then grunted as Ren jumped over Weiss and landed on him, grappling him.

Ren was across the teacher's shoulders, wrapping his legs around one of his arms and his arm around the other. Rather than take the open shot to their opponent's belly, Weiss made use of her ice dust, immobilizing the man's feet in a large block of ice. He thrashed but with his legs restrained, couldn't generate enough power to dislodge the younger man. Instead, Ren held his weapon-hand steady, allowing Weiss to land several slashes on the wrist. The teacher's aura was strong, but Weiss finally got through and forced him to drop his weapon. Ren landed a knee to the man's head, dropped to the ground and rolled free.

Now that they had the time to examine the surroundings in more detail, Weiss noted that one wall was covered with windows and another had an open door, through which several office staff were staring with horrified and dumbfounded expressions. Ren moved quickly, slamming the door shut and dragging a chair to brace under the knob. Weiss waved him off and used up more of her ice dust to encase door and chair both.

With the only entrance point secured, at least for the moment, the two former Beacon Students now turned their attention to Headmaster Lionheart. One of the hired blades (the one who had the kama) was bleeding from his lower arm, but the headmaster was now seated, disarmed, with the other hired blade guarding him. To Weiss' shock, Oscar was was standing in front of the headmaster, with a staff that was emitting an emerald light into the captive's face.

"Felis, what did you do?" The boy asked.

"How can you know my name?" Lionheart demanded.

"You know, Felis. You know what happened to Beacon and the same thing is going to happen here, in Mistral and Haven, if you don't tell me what you've done!"

"I did what I needed to do!" The golden-haired man told the boy, leaving Weiss to wonder why he was justifying himself to a kid...and what the kid was doing via the staff.

"You insisted that the hunters go to the north coast, while most of the soldiers and heavy weapons went to Windhaven," the boy stated, after a moment's thought. "What about Kuchinashi?"

"The threat is from Atlas!" Lionheart told him. "They attacked Vale! The mechs and soldiers went berserk through the city and then Atlas cut off our supply of dust! We may lose Kuchinashi but it's better than losing the kingdom!"

"Who told you that Atlas was the biggest danger?" The boy demanded.

"The man who came here to help us," Lionheart answered. "Dr. Watts."

"Qrow!" Weiss gasped, her memory jogged by the name of the huntsman's opponent. Deciding that the hired muscle and Ren could take care of things for the moment, she rushed back to the door leading into the private study. What she saw wasn't good.

Qrow was gasping for breath, struggling to keep his saber up and in front of him. Dr. Watts did not appear to be winded and was smirking at the huntsman. His swagger stick still crackled with electrical energy and he swept it in front of him, unleashing an arc of lightning. Defying his apparent exhaustion, Qrow threw himself into a front roll, ducking under the discharge and rising to unleash an upward slash against his tormentor. Watts, moving almost to fast for Weiss to track, directed the cut away with his stick and then landed a backhand strike to Qrow's chin, discharging the weapon once again. The huntsman was sent sprawling back.

"Qrow!" Weiss screamed. While she didn't exactly like the older man, she understood he was one of the good guys...within his limitations...and didn't want to see him hurt.

"Stay away from me!" He roared, stumbling to his feet while Watts prepared another strike.

That was fine! If he wanted her to keep clear, she would do so, but she could still affect the fight in the study. Using the last of her ice dust, she formed a wall, trapping Watts in one corner of the room and giving Qrow a chance to gather himself. Almost immediately, the ice started to crack as the opponent fought through. Weiss, however, had time to perform one more maneuver; she centered herself behind her rapier, concentrated and gestured towards Qrow. A streamer of yellowish-brown light burst from her right hand, striking the floor under the huntsman. Qrow now stood upon the image of an old-fashioned clock face, the seconds hand spinning first slowly and then more rapidly.

The ice wall shattered and Watts burst through the breach. He moved as fast as the lightning he wielded, closing on Qrow and thrusting with the swagger stick. Qrow, enhanced by Weiss' glyph, moved so fast that he appeared just a blur of color. He sidestepped the thrust and drove an elbow into his opponent's kidney. When Watts tried to backhand him, Qrow caught the wrist and drove it to the ground. Stepping on Watts' wrist, he slashed the swagger stick, chopping it in two and releasing a burst of electricity that sent both combatants sprawling. Watts recovered first, staggering to his feet and glaring and his broken weapon.

He brought his glare up to Weiss. Setting her teeth, the heiress thumbed her rapier's rotating drum, selecting fire dust. As formidable as he had to be, to have been getting the better of Qrow, he was showing the effects of the fight and would be hard pressed by a wave of flame. Before she could make her attack, the man sneered at her and threw a handful of some sort of powder on the floor in front of him. Suddenly, the room was full of thick, reeking smoke. Before she could react, Qrow came lunging out of the smoke, tackling her. Another lightning bolt burst from the smoke, passing through the space where her head had been a heartbeat earlier. Moments later, the sound of broken glass sounded from the study.

Qrow took up a position one side of the door, keeping low; Weiss mimicked him on the other side. The smoke cleared rapidly from the room, revealing that the window was broken and Zwei was on point at the opening. Qrow stormed through the now empty room and looked out the opening where the window had once been.

"Damn," the huntsman panted, still short of breath. "He knew when it was time to clear out. Salem's gonna know that we're on to this part of her plan."

"Who's Salem?" Weiss asked him.

"The one who's running all of this," he told her. "The one who sent Cinder out to Beacon, the one who had Cinder kill the fall maiden, and the one who's behind the attacks on Mistral." He gave her an appraising look. "That was a smart move back there. Sometimes the best way to win a fight is to support someone else, not actually jump in yourself." He pushed away from the window opening and stalked back towards the meeting room.

"Aren't you going to go after Watts?" Weiss demanded.

"Na," he shook his head. "A thirty second head start is plenty of time for someone like him to get away, even if I had my stamina back...which I don't. Before you get any ideas, there's no way I'm letting you go after him. We might have broke his weapon, but he's still more than you're ready to deal with...at least for the moment. Let's see what Oscar has found out from the headmaster."

Still confused about why a boy was questioning a headmaster, Weiss followed Qrow back through the trashed study and into the trashed meeting room. Ren was listening at the wall, next to the door that Weiss had sealed with ice. At the head of the table, the two hired swords were no longer keeping a close guard on the headmaster. Oscar's staff was no longer illuminating Lionheart's face and the boy was speaking in a conversational, non confrontational tone.

"You should have guessed when he showed up without any prompting," the boy told the headmaster. "But that's what makes him so dangerous, he acts in a manner that appears to be logical. Indeed, it is logical; but his goals are not what he leads his victim to believe."

"So what do I do now?" Lionheart asked.

"I need you to contact your faculty," Oscar told him, after getting a distant look for a few moments. "Undoubtedly, several instructors, who are also capable hunters, are rushing towards this office at this very moment. There has been quite enough violence for one day. After you do so, we can discuss further actions."

The headmaster pulled out a scroll and activated some sort of a mass dial. Once done, he spoke into the device, "all staff, this is Headmaster Lionheart. I want everyone to know that there has been a break in at my office, but all is under control at this time. I will require every level one staff member to meet in my conference room in one hour."

"Very well," he then addressed the boy. "What else do you need to know, and what do I?"

"Why don't I take this?" Qrow drawled at the boy. "If I do the talking, it might avoid certain...complications."

Weiss grew still more confused, wondering just who or what this boy was. She was even more confused when he nodded, prompting both an irreverent yet skilled huntsman like Qrow, and a headmaster, to follow his direction.

"I've got my ear into what's going on," Qrow drawled, forcing Weiss to set aside her wondering about the boy. "And I know that there are goliaths moving on Kuchinashi..."

"Winter!" Weiss gasped.

"...but they shouldn't get there for another day or two," Qrow continued. He shot the young woman a look that was only slightly irritated, but mostly sympathetic. "The big problem is that we don't have the heavy weapons needed to handle those things down there; they're all at Windhaven guarding against a naval invasion from Atlas."

"It takes several seasoned hunters to handle a single goliath," the headmaster mused, guilt evident on his face. "And even then, there's always casualties. I don't see how we can transport the heavy weapons from Windhaven to Kuchinashi in time...but we have to try. I'll contact the council and get to work on that. What else?"

"It would appear that the Atlesian Air Fleet was coming to Kuchinashi's aid and got wiped out, along with the town of BatiKiyisi. General Ironwood was with it, and hasn't been heard from since. That's a heavy loss for our side."

"Agreed," the headmaster sighed. "Qrow, there's a lot more stories that need to be told, but do any of them need to be told before we get moving? We need to put things in motion before it's too late."

"It's already too late," Qrow grumbled. "But you're right. We're all gonna have a big discussion. You need to get the council moving the heavy weapons."

"I want you to head north," Lionheart told him. "I can give you contact information for the hunters I sent up that way. They might not respect a recall I give them. I understand that my actions were...more than suspicious. I'm just glad that enough good people did what they thought was right. At least we still have a chance."

"Sounds good," Qrow shrugged.

"I'm going to Kuchinashi," Weiss insisted. "If Winter's going to face something that dangerous, I want to be with her."

"Is that the only reason?" Qrow drawled.

"I'd...rather not face Ron right now," she admitted.

"Something I'm probably better off not knowing," Qrow shrugged. "There's still trainloads of dust heading down south, it won't be hard to put you on one. My brother-in-law is down there, as well. I'm sure Yang told him that Ruby is fine, but he'd like to hear from someone who actually spoke to her." The aging huntsman sighed heavily. "I really hope we have a chance to get together when this is all over. I haven't spent enough time with my nieces for too long now."

* * *

"I can't picture Ren not being here to help you," Yang grumbled at Nora. "And I know you're not exactly happy to not have him here."

Yang was perfectly aware why the young man wasn't with his new-found girlfriend, even if she didn't know the details. He and Weiss were helping her uncle with some mission. The blonde didn't know how vital it was; Qrow tended to not say such things until you were already in the middle of something, but she was sure it would have to be important if he was willing to drag the two students along. On the other hand, griping about something else kept her from worrying too much about him, about her sister, about her father...come to think about it, there were entirely too many people that she was worried about these days.

At least griping and worrying kept her from dwelling too much on the fact that her leg still hurt while doing physical therapy. It also kept Nora busy, as the ginger went through much the same experience. The two were using some parallel bars, walking while placing as much of their weight as they could stand on their injured legs. Yang understood the concept; because their aura caused them to heal rapidly, they had to flex the muscles and tendons frequently so that they didn't heal in a static position.

Knowing the theory didn't keep it from hurting. Maybe the attendant in the Physical Therapy Department was doing the smart thing by instructing them from a distance, keeping out of reach.

"He'll be back," Nora gritted through clenched teeth. "Once he and Weiss get back, maybe we can finally have an all-party get together and find out what's going on. Maybe we'll all go to Weiss' fancy suite and get a taste of luxury."

Yang snorted at that one, even as she nodded that it would be good to finally catch up with everyone. At least she and Nora were on crutches now, instead of in wheelchairs, so it was easier to get around. They were also going to get released today, even though they would have to return, daily, for additional physical therapy. While Nora assured her that she could stay with the new couple in the nearby room that Weiss had rented for Ren, Yang was determined to find other lodging as soon as possible. As much as she had teased her friends about not minding seeing them get together, she understood that they would want a little alone time.

Her contemplation was interrupted when someone in loose-fitting clothing shuffled into the room and approached the attendant. Yang didn't pay much attention, concentrating on extending her leg and flexing the joints, even though they ached, while walking. It wasn't until the man finished with the attendant and approached the two students that Yang looked him in the face and realized who it was.

"Ron!" She gasped, noting that his face was covered in what appeared to be abrasions and burns. "What happened to you?"

"A long story," he gave a meaningful glance over his shoulder and towards the attendant.

Yang got the hint; there were things that he didn't want strangers to learn.

"Ron!" Nora suddenly gasped. "What's that on your shoulder?"

Yang had noticed the odd, pink shape, but had been more interested in talking to her friend. However, now that Nora had brought it up, she was more than curious.

"Hello!" The...thing greeted and waved at the two girls.

"It talks?" Nora stared with wide eyes.

"Hey!" It squeaked at her. "I'm a he!"

"What is it?" Yang demanded, only to have it now glare at her.

"Ladies, I'd like you to meet Rufus," Ron told the girls. "My very good friend."

"It...he looks like a hairless rat," Nora quipped.

"Naked!" Rufus corrected her.

"Ooooo-kay," Yang looked at the small creature, somewhat nervously. "So what brings you down here, Ron?"

"I need to stretch out," he explained. "I need to keep my skin limber while I heal up. I'm getting released today."

"So are we!" Nora exclaimed. "Maybe we can have that big talk when we get out!"

"I'd like that," Yang nodded. "Nobody to overhear, just us all figuring out what's going on."

Braced by this thought, Yang and Nora started another round with the parallel bars and Ron started a series of stretches, under the instruction of the attendant. All were working out well, with some trash talk between the two girls, when Ron's scroll chimed. Upon looking at it, he frowned, then started typing frantically. After that, he dialed a number only to growl at the result. The attendant, seeing that he was dealing with something personal, retreated back to his desk while the two young women approached the blonde.

"Something wrong?" Nora asked.

"Weiss just sent me a text," he told her. "She gave me control of her traveling account and said that she's escorting a shipment of dust to Kuchinashi. Now she's blocked my calls!" Ron's already red face became more red.

"Did something happen between the two of you?" Yang asked him.

"I...I mean we...we almost...then I was..." Ron was clearly distraught.

"Maybe this is something we should wait to discuss when we're all alone," Yang suggested, although her eyes narrowed. ' _If you did anything to her, so help me..._ '

Maybe I should move out of that luxury suite," Ron grumbled. "I can find someplace closer to the three of you."

"No way!" Yang snapped at him. "If I understand what Weiss told Ren during your little adventure in the theater, she rented those rooms so she could leave her receiver set up and that's our only link to my sister! Once we get released, we're all going there and setting it back up. Those ritzy sort of places are private, so we can have our talk. When we do, there's not going to be any secrets, understand?"

"I understand," he shook his head. "Even on Remnant, there's nobody who isn't the boss of me."

Any thought that Yang had of grilling her friend about that comment was interrupted when Ren showed up. Yang had always liked Ren, even though she had to admit that she probably would have never become friends with him if it weren't for the close friendship between teams RWBY and JNPR...which had been prompted by Ruby's friendship with Jaune. Ren was too close-mouthed, never speaking unless he had a pressing need to communicate and then using very few words. It had taken her a long time to realize that his quiet nature wasn't caused by shyness or aloofness; but was simply his personality. Now, she could see that he was troubled, as well.

It was a theme for all of them that she was getting tired of seeing.

"Your uncle has left for the north," he told her, his voice quiet and unemotional. "I will not discuss why at this time."

"I'm getting tired of hearing those words," Yang grumbled. "But I think we have a way of dealing with them."

Yang was feeling more than a little grouchy about all of the secrets. However, she now had a course of action to eliminate them. With this to brace her, she was able to face her second round of physical therapy before facing the interminable paperwork required to get discharged from the hospital. She sighed when the physical therapy specialist went through the exercises she, Ron and Nora would need to perform, on their own time, if they wanted to recover as quickly as possible. She gritted her teeth while the specialist then scheduled their return visits. As much as she told herself that she shouldn't be angry with him; after all, he was trying to heal them as quickly as possible, she was ready to get out of the facility. Finally, the four young people, and a rodent, were walking out of the front door.

It only took a slight glare for Ron to get the hint and use the vast funds Weiss had left him to hire a cab to first swing by the economy hotel where Ren had been staying. With Nora and Ren's possessions in hand, they went to the high-end hotel, and the adjoining suites, that the heiress had previously obtained. Yang would not allow any delay, putting Ron to work immediately setting up the communication device that would allow contact with her sister.

"Jaune and Ruby told us to try to contact them at sundown," Ron told her, while setting up the equipment. "What's the point of setting it up now?"

"Because you can hook up to the building's electrical system and not run down your dust crystals," Yang explained. "You can monitor in case they try to transmit at an off time. Also, you get it set up now so we don't have to worry later."

"Fine," Ron grumbled, tossing her his scroll. Suddenly, he looked thoughtful. "Why don't you compose a message for her?"

"Okay," Yang agreed. "But what suddenly got into you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You suddenly looked thoughtful, like you had an idea," Yang pointed out.

"I did," Ron admitted. "Once I get this thing set up, I'm going to need to visit the gift shop."

"What?"

"Look, let me get this ready, you'll understand once I tell my story," he assured her. "In the meantime, why don't you put together a message for your sister? If we make contact, you'll be able to send it."

Still angry about the secrets, but wanting to let Ruby know what was taking place, Yang worked at the scroll while Ron finished setting up the transceiver and Ren, Nora and Oscar acquainted themselves with the luxurious accommodations. Ron set his scroll to monitor, in case Ruby were to try to contact them, then then left to obtain an additional scroll while the two young women decided to take advantage of the two bathrooms to take relaxing baths, even though they each had to keep a cast out of the water. By the time Yang finished drying her hair, she was feeling much more reasonable. When she came out of the bathroom and saw that Ron had arranged a full meal for them, she felt downright charitable. While eating, she noticed that Ron was poking at what appeared to be a new scroll.

"Okay," the blonde girl declared, finally putting down her utensils. "All of the distractions are taken care of! Let's get these secrets addressed."

"I'll go first," Ron told them. The rat, Rufus, took a perch on Ron's shoulder while he started his tale.

The beginning of his tale was a repeat for his audience; he re-capped his mission on Earth and how he wound up on Remnant. He glossed over his trip across Anima with Qrow and his arrival on Patch. Yang paid closer attention as he described his time first at Atlas Academy and then in the Schnee Mansion. Yang listened as he described classes, missions and life with Weiss. While he talked about Neon and Flynt, as well, there seemed to be something special in the way he spoke about Weiss. Yang shared a knowing look with Nora, then she swore she spotted the same expression on Rufus' face, as well.

Nora, Ren, Yang and Oscar all paid rapt attention as he spoke about the rifles and bombs that had come from Earth.

"It would appear that since you don't have dust on Earth, you have substituted chemistry," Ren interrupted. "It seems that such weapons that your planet produces have an advantage in raw impact, but don't have the additional effects that dust can produce."

"I'd call you a liar if I hadn't seen it myself," Nora added. "I saw that Winter was hit with one of the rifles and I saw the fireball, kilometers away from BatiKiyisi."

"How does such an explosion even happen?" Yang asked him.

"I'm no physicist," Ron admitted. "But I know that it involves using explosives to compact uranium down to something called a critical mass."

"What's uranium?" Nora asked him.

"A really dense metal," Ron answered. "I don't know very much, but I know that it's more dense and complex than gold, even lead."

The three Remnant natives shared a look.

"Here on Remnant, gold is the most dense element that exists," Ren told him. "We don't have this...lead, or uranium."

Suddenly, Rufus whispered into Ron's ear.

"Well, I guess certain physical laws are different," Ron told them, after a nod to the rat. He then told about Dr. Physiker's efforts to home in on his planet by using his connection to the Lotus Blade. With a trembling voice, he told them about the mission to disable the first bomb on board the Kaltes Schiff.

"I had to summon the blade to Remnant," he told them. "Otherwise, I might not have been able to disassemble the bomb in time. But doing it meant that Dr. Physiker didn't have anything to track to get me home."

Rufus gave him a sympathetic pat on the cheek, which braced him enough to discuss the mission to disassemble the bomb hidden in the Forgotten Evening. After that he told them about being suddenly pulled back to Earth and facing grimm alongside Kim.

"I left the Lotus Blade on Earth," he told them. "And Rufus came back here with me. Weiss thinks that my being summoned to Earth is my Semblance...that if Kim is in enough trouble, I go to her."

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Nora asked.

"Uh...no," Ron's shoulders slumped, nearly tumbling Rufus off. "The doctors think that Earth is hostile to an active aura. I didn't take the abrasions or the burns during the fight, it seems that it was my aura turning on me while I was there."

"So you can never go home, even if Dr. Physiker manages to open a portal," Ren noted.

"It's not only that," Ron sighed. "Dr. Physiker doesn't think she can open a portal that's more than a pinhole. Add to that, Rufus tells me that Kim put a team together, and they're trying to use some sort of mechanical means to access this reality. That's an awful lot of work to go through, only for me to not be able to go back."

"That's why you bought the spare scroll!" Yang snapped her fingers. "You're recording comments to people on Earth and if you go back again, you're gonna leave the scroll there!"

"That's my plan," Ron nodded.

"Okay, but why did Weiss leave so fast?" Nora interrupted. "She must have been shook up."

"She...feels guilty," Ron couldn't meet the others' eyes. "She woke my aura, so she blames herself for me not being able to go home."

"Qrow hinted that aura came with a side effect," Yang mused. "Do you think this is it?"

"I don't believe so," Ren countered. "Nobody has ever left our planet. Even the experimental rockets that Atlas used to launch became defective once they left our atmosphere. There is no way that Qrow could have known how aura would react off of Remnant, much less in another reality."

"But he still knows about a side effect," Nora added. "I'm interested in knowing what that is."

"The next time I see him, I say we all pin him down and get the truth," Yang decided. She then gave Ron a hard look before deciding that it was her turn to come clean. She told them about meeting Team SSSN, minus Sun. She told them about the security camera footage that made her think that Ruby and Jaune were something more than friends. She told them about Winter's hints as to where Ruby was at, what she was doing, and about the pitched battle in Kuchinashi.

"It's not over down there," she concluded. "We gave the White Fang a beating, but we took one as well."

"It's far from over," Ren added, his face ashen. "Perhaps I should go next."

With that, the quiet young man explained his mission with both Weiss and Qrow. He explained that Qrow had learned that a scouting party had spotted goliaths converging on the city.

"Goliaths?" Ron asked.

"Elephant grimm," Yang told him. "But they can get a great deal larger. Each one takes a team of trained hunters, or very heavy weapons, to kill."

"And that is what one of Salem's operatives, called Dr. Watts, did," Ren told them. "He influenced Headmaster Lionheart into believing that Atlas was the major danger. The heavy weapons are all around Windhaven, guarding against a naval invasion that will never come. The hunters are mostly up north, defending against an attack that will never materialize."

"Leaving Kuchinashi unable to defend against the goliaths," Yang concluded.

"Your uncle left to the north, with your dog and a boy named Oscar," Ren told her. "He is going to try to convince hunters up there to go to Kuchinashi. Headmaster Lionheart is going to try to convince the council to move the heavy cannon from Windhaven...after he's spent months convincing them to keep them there."

"Where does that leave us?" Yang asked.

"The three of you are recuperating," Ren informed them. "So you will not be able to assist in a pitched battle. In the morning, I will take a train to Kuchinashi and offer what assistance I can."

"No!" Nora demanded. "You aren't going into a situation like that without me! We stick together!"

"But Weiss is all alone," Ren countered.

"It's a choice she made," Nora snapped back. "You're not leaving me behind to go into something like that! If you do, I'm heading that way myself, bad leg and all!"

"Guys, that brings up something else," Yang pointed out, now giving Ron a hard look. "Weiss wouldn't just run off on her own like that unless something was really bothering her. It wasn't just unlocking Ron's aura, either. She didn't have any way of knowing that Ron's aura would keep him from going home, so once she thought about it a little, she wouldn't blame herself." Now, the blonde female turned the full force of an accusing glare onto the blonde male. "So just what happened between the two of you that made her so upset?"

For several, long minutes, Ron stared at his feet. Finally, he was able to meet Yang's gaze.

"After we got back here, I was feeling really, really low," he murmured. "I was just sitting there, not making any moves, not really thinking of anything. Weiss came in, took me out on the balcony and pointed out all of the people that we had saved."

"I told her that I was all alone," he cointinued. "She told me that I wasn't and hugged me. The next thing I know, she was looking up at me, I was looking down at her and..."

"I think I get the picture," Yang told him, blushing just a little.

"No," Ron shook his head. "I mean, we were going to, but just as we got onto the bed and really...well...started to get serious...I was back on Earth."

"Ohhhh..." Yang grimaced.

"I think it's horrid!" Nora grumped, prompting Ron to look at his feet again while both Yang and Ren gave her incredulous stares.

"It sounded like it was pretty much a mutual decision," Yang pointed out. "This room would have been shredded if either one of them tried to do...that...and the other one didn't want to."

"Oh, that's not what I'm talking about," Nora waved her hand. "What's so horrid is that they've been partners for what, half a year? Why do they get to try that when they finally figured it all out and all I got was a little kissy-face?"

"Uh, Nora..." Ren tried to interrupt.

"We've been partners for years!" The ginger ranted. "We've looked out for each other, helped each other through the hard times, so you'd think that when we finally realize that we both want to be more than friends, things would move right along, but no! Just some smooches."

"We were in a room with an audience," Ren pointed out.

"Don't blame me!" Yang grinned at the two. "If you would have asked, I could have put in some earphones!"

"You were also injured," Ren told Nora, with a sidelong scowl at Yang.

"Seriously? We could have worked our way around that!"

"I believe we're getting off of the topic," the normally composed young man was actually blushing. "We are trying to determine why Weiss would run off so quickly."

"Oh, I can understand that with no problem," Nora told the group.

Everyone looked at her; even Ron stopped staring at his feet to give her a questioning gaze.

"I think it's pretty obvious that Weiss wanted Ron," she explained, showing no self-consciousness that one of the people she was talking about was sitting right in front of her. "But she knew he belonged to someone else. She didn't do anything about it until she was sure that he couldn't go back, but then it turned out that he can go back. After that, she learned that he really can't go back after all and it is because she activated his aura..."

She paused while the others tried to catch up with her reasoning.

"Okay, she didn't know at the time that activating his aura would mean he couldn't go home," Nora continued. "But she still feels guilty. She feels like a thief; like she stole the life that he wanted to go back to and because she wanted him here, that makes her a bad person. I know that it doesn't make any sense, but she's going to feel guilty anyway and that's why she can't bring herself to face Ron."

For a couple of minutes, the other three simply looked at Nora. She was usually so blunt, so enthusiastic that it was hard to grasp that she could have such insight into another person's emotions. Just as Nora was becoming uneasy at being the center of attention, Ron's scroll, the one that was connected to the communication device, chirped.

"It's from Jaune and your sister," Ron announced to Yang, after reading the message. "Mostly from Jaune. They've reached what's left of BatiKiyisi, there's no sign of radiation..."

"What's radiation?" Nora and Yang asked, at the same time.

"Perhaps the rest of the report is more important," Ren suggested.

"They...they've found Headmaster Ironwood!" Ron gasped. "It says that he's hurt badly, but alive. They need to get him to a proper hospital as soon as possible!"

"I will contact such law enforcement officials that interrogated me," Ren informed the others. He then looked at Ron. "I suggest you do the same. Perhaps one of them can prompt action from the officials here in Mistral."

"Not so fast!" Yang insisted. "You need to get my message back! I want Ruby to know that I'm here and I want to know how she is!"

"The message was sent, automatically, as soon as Jaune sent his," Ron told him, calling up a contact. "They're probably reading it as we speak!"

Since Yang insisted that Ron keep his scroll attached to the communication device, his mastery of it was somewhat clumsy. Still, he pushed on, frowning at the first response he received.

"Those policemen who interrogated us have been informed of the situation," Ren announced, after a couple of minutes. "They will use their channels to inform the Mistral Council." He offered a somewhat sarcastic smile. "Even if humanitarian reasons don't prompt them to send a rescue mission, the chance of having General Ironwood in Mistral as an unofficial hostage should."

"I tried calling and texting Weiss," Ron reported. "She's blocking me. I also sent a text to Dr. Physiker. She has the ear of at least one council member in Atlas, so even if Ren's contacts can't make things work, the inter-kingdom diplomatic channels have a chance."

"So what can we do now?" Nora asked.

"Nothing I can think of," Yang told them. "So we might as well have a little fun. Nora and I can get around on crutches well enough, and Ron's okay as well. Let's go see the town a little and try to take our minds off of all the gloom and doom that we can't help, at least for a couple of hours."

"I'd rather hang here for a little," Ron protested, holding up his new scroll. "I want to record..."

"No!" Yang informed him. "Ron, there's nothing you can do about your situation. You're going to come with us and spend a little time living. When we get back, you'll be free to make your recordings."

Ron just glared at her.

"My little sister is out there," Yang told him. "I'm worried about her. General Ironwood arranged for me to get this arm." She held up the robotic appendage. "And he's in trouble. My dad is down south, where goliaths are closing in. The only thing is, I can't do anything for any of them at this moment. I can either sit here and just worry, or I can get out and enjoy myself a little, so I'm not just some nervous wreck when there's something I can do. You're in the same boat, so get dressed, get your weapons so you look the part of a hunter, and lets go see Mistral."

Ron was still reluctant, but he had to admit that he couldn't do anything about his sitch at the moment. He also had to admit that he hadn't had a chance to really go through a city and appreciate what Remnant had to offer; while he had visited vale and had lived in Atlas, he hadn't had a chance to just look around. Doing so with some natives had a certain appeal. He agreed, but made his companions promise that they would come back early.

Despite his near lifelong friendship with Kim, and his several years friendship with Monique, he had never appreciated how enjoyable simply walking around and window-shopping could be. He was still miserable, knowing that he could never return home to his friends and family, but he found that some items piqued his interest, dulling the pain just a little bit. Perhaps it was the company he kept, or perhaps it was the fact that he had somehow accepted that he was going to be a huntsman; maybe it was just his inner nerd showing through, but he found himself drawn to the displays in a couple of weapons shops, noting the capabilities advertised. His companions noted his interest.

"It would be most beneficial if you were to incorporate more capability into your weapons," Ren informed him. "While you are formidable in close quarters and against even large grimm, your lack of a ranged attack places you at a disadvantage."

"I don't like guns," Ron told him. "They seem so..."

"Easy?" Yang asked him. "Like something that anyone can use. You've worked hard to gain the skills you have, so you don't like the idea of simply being able to aim and squeeze a trigger?"

"That's part of it," he admitted. "The other part of it comes from dealing with criminals back on Earth. So many of them were just punks that became dangerous because they had one." He snorted a short, self-mocking laugh. "Of course, it worked both ways; a firearm could make an innocent homeowner dangerous prey to a criminal."

"Ron, I grew up learning to fight hand-to-hand," Yang placed a hand on his shoulder, emphasizing her point. "My dad is an incredible fighter and I'm his daughter. He was the one who convinced me to add the firearm capability to Ember Celica. He explained a couple of things to me; he pointed out that just because I had the capability didn't mean I had to use it against others constantly."

"The old 'it's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it' speech?" Ron asked.

"Partly," Yang shrugged. "But it's also a capability you can exploit in more than one way. I can also use it to boost my speed and help me get close to whomever...or whatever...I need to clobber."

"I can use the grenade launcher to throw myself a long way," Nora added.

"And Jaune has no ranged attack capability," Ren pointed out. "Both as a member of Team JNPR and Team RNJR, this lack of utility proved a handicap at times."

"Look, your tonfa-staff has plenty of room to add improvements," Yang told him. "Why not just duck into this shop, see what they can do, then make up your mind?"

While still a little reluctant, Ron agreed. To his surprise, the owner and operator didn't act like a salesman; the middle-aged man acted like a friendly craftsman, first examining Ron's weapon, then determining where alterations could be made without affecting the current moving parts, then pointing out what enhancements could be added.

"Both of the tonfa can be configured as firearms," the craftsman told him. "The long arms can hold the magazines, the short arms can be converted to barrels. I can put a ring on the handles that will cover a triggering button during normal use, so they won't fire accidentally. Since the short arms are joined together when your weapon is in staff form, the chance of blocking the barrels will be minimized. In fact, I can add a pop-up sight that will seal the barrels when they're not in use."

"I'm still a little uneasy about using a gun," Ron admitted. "It just seems so impersonal; taking someone out at range."

"There is something else I can do for you," the craftsman told him, holding up one of the tonfa. "I can make this function as a grapple. The long arm can hold the cable, launch and a winding mechanism. This will send the rest of the weapon, the short arm and handle, flying towards whatever target you wish. I can also install internal spikes in the handle and short arm that will extend and form into hooks. You can use them to catch objects or opponents and then release them whenever you want."

"How can I release them?" Ron asked. The craftsman looked at him, confused.

"I forget that you're still fairly new with aura," Yang mentioned. "A lot of these mechanisms can be tripped by aura. It takes some practice, but as long as your holding the long arm and the short arm mechanism is still connected via the cable, you'll be able to activate the retraction."

"It's not exactly a hair dryer," Ron mused. "But it will be familiar."

"What?" Yang asked him.

"Never mind," he shook his head, then looked at the others. "What would you do, if you were in my sitch?"

"Sitch?" Four people asked, as one.

"Situation," Ron clarified. "How would you have the tonfa modified?"

"I would suggest adding the grapple to one and the firearm enhancement to the other," the craftsman told him. "You'll have the ranged attack capability and the mobility capability at the same time."

"I concur," Ren added. "While two tonfa with firearm enhancements can provide greater firepower, versatility is more valuable for a huntsman." Nora and Yang nodded agreement.

"I still don't like guns," Ron insisted. "But how much will it cost, and how long will it take, to modify one with the grapple enhancement?"

To Ron's surprise, the craftsman was willing to install the modification yet that day, and for a reasonable price, one that he could afford without utilizing the funds that Weiss had made available to him. He left the weapon at the shop and accompanied the others as they continued through the city.

"Perhaps this is a touchy subject," Nora mentioned, as they passed a tailor. "But have you thought of a symbol? Ren has the flower, Yang has the burning heart, I have the hammer shot through with lightning. You're going to be a huntsman, so you need a symbol, something that reflects you."

"I...don't think I'm ready for that," Ron's face, which had risen slightly after visiting the weapons shop, dropped again.

"Hey, I'm sorry," the ginger girl quickly put a hand on his shoulder. "I have a hard time picking up on people's moods."

"I know you mean well," Ron told her. "It's just that...that..."

His companions could see that he was about to break out in sobs.

"Hey, Mistral is supposed to have some great street comedy," Yang suddenly declared. "Why don't we head further downtown and see if we can see a show?"

Despite using crutches, Yang managed to link one of her arms with Ron's, leading him down the street. Rufus rode his opposite shoulder, whispering in his hear and patting the side of his head. While he was still struggling to control his emotions, they eventually found a comedy troupe performing for bystanders. Yang kept a close eye out for pickpockets while her companions watched the show. Nora whooped and laughed out loud while even the reserved Ren smiled quite a bit. Even Rufus snickered at the antics. However, Ron looked listless, even going so far as to grimace whenever the foolish character did something...foolish. After the show, they picked up some light snacks and checked other shops, not buying much but enjoying looking at what was available. Yang kept close to Ron, noting that his spirits were very down and he showed little interest in anything. Finally, it was time to head back to the weapons shop.

The craftsman had done a very good job; and the tonfa looked exactly like it had when they dropped it off. Upon hefting it, Ron rallied just a little, noting that the weight was different than it had been before. The craftsman nodded and ushered the small group to a room in the back of his shop, where he urged Ron to try the grapple feature.

The young man was clumsy with it, which didn't surprise Yang. Any new enhancement took time to master. However, the work was top rate and while Ron struggled with using his aura to extend and retract the hooks, Yang was sure he would pick it up in a very short time. With evening closing in, they paid the owner his fee and made their way back to the luxury hotel.

"We might as well turn in," Ron suggested. "Weiss is paying a great deal for these rooms and it would be a shame for that money to be wasted."

Nora admitted to a certain fatigue; after all healing could be exhausting. "If nobody minds," she actually looked a little shy while speaking. "I'd like to take Weiss' room, with Ren, tonight. Oscar can have the fold out couch in the sitting room of our suite."

She blushed as four sets of human eyebrows, and one set belonging to a naked mole rat, rose.

"I'm not suggesting anything," she told everyone. "It's just that Ren and I have just decided to get together together, and we haven't had any time alone. I'd like some time with just the two of us."

"Sure," Ron nodded. "Just let me check the communication device first...hey, there's a message from Ruby to Yang!"

Yang managed to not injure the young man when grabbing his scroll out of his hand and was soon reading that Ruby was well, that General Ironwood needed a proper hospital as soon as it could be arranged, and that grimm were attacking the survivors but what fighters that were present were managing to hold them off. The golden-haired girl nearly wept when she read that Ruby was relieved to learn that she had shaken off her depression and was now back in action, even though the younger sibling was worried about her injury. While Ren and Nora prepared for bed, Yang composed a return message.

Then the door connecting the suites closed, leaving Yang with a very depressed Ron.

"I can crash on the couch," the blonde man offered.

"No need," Yang shrugged, making her way to the large bed. "This bed is large enough for the two of us and no, that's not some corny line to get you into it with me. I think I could lie on one side, you could lie on the other and the two of us couldn't even manage to touch hands. We're hunters, or will be pretty soon, so sleeping in close quarters doesn't mean anything romantic. Besides, I don't want you to be alone."

"That's fine," Ron nodded. "But if you don't mind, I'm not quite ready to sleep just yet."

"Suit yourself," Yang shrugged. As Ron slipped into the suite's sitting room, she settled into bed and despite her concerns, exhaustion and the ultra-comfortable bed quickly had her asleep.

She woke some time later, with the only illumination in the room being provided by Mistral's street lights, shining in through the window. She could hear a muffled voice coming from the sitting room. A quick glance at her scroll told her that it was just after two in the morning, and a quick glance around told her that Ron had not yet come to bed. Sighing, she grabbed her crutches and made her way, as quietly as possible, to the closed door that led to the sitting room.

Opening it slightly, she confirmed that Ron was the source of the muffled voice. He didn't note her listening to him, but continued to speak into the new scroll.

"...so that's the sitch, KP," he said, his voice trembling a bit. "Even if the scientists here can somehow open a doorway back to Earth; even if your team manages to send that compartment here, I can't come home."

"This is going to be hard to say," he continued. "But I think you should know. I...I...bought the ring before our mission to stop Dementor. I was going to pop the question when we reached the resort in the Alps. I love you KP, and I'll love you until the day I die, but there's just no way that we can make this work."

"It's not fair of you to wait for me," he was now sobbing. "So I want you to move on with your life. I once said that you were destined for the stars while I was going to be stuck on Earth. I...I guess I had the right idea but I just got who was going to leave wrong. I'd give anything to come back to you, to be your husband until death took us apart, but something bigger than us saw to it that we couldn't be together. Please, never stop doing what you do, Earth needs you and I'll just have to muddle on as best I can, here."

Yang's heart broke as the man took a few minutes to compose himself before continuing.

"If I could ask you a couple of favors, please look in on my parents and Hana whenever you get a chance. I'll record messages for them, as well. If you ever get this, please record a message of your own, and have my family and any of the old gang do the same. If we see each other again, maybe we can swap scrolls and sort of keep in touch. Right now, I don't know what else to say but goodbye."

Yang continued to watch for several minutes as Ron cried, trying to keep quiet. After a while, he composed himself to a certain extent, put a smile on his face and held up the scroll to record himself again.

"Hey Hana," he said, trying to sound cheerful. "It's your brother, Ron, and do I have a story to tell you! I'm in a new world, called Remnant, and it has kingdoms and monsters, heroes and bandits! It's a very strange place to be..."

Yang slid the door shut again and made her way back to the bed. Settling in under the covers, she wiped a tear of her own away, wondering why the good people seemed to be the ones who suffered the most.

* * *

 _As always, thanks to those of you who have taken the time to comment. Big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, for his beta reading._

 _Until next chapter, best wishes;_

 _daccu65_


	32. Chapter 32

"Ron!" Kim spun around, trying to see where her best friend, her lover, her soulmate had gone. There was no sign of him.

"Ron!?" She wailed, unsure of what to do. Around her, the few remaining grimm were being gunned down, as she now recognized that Team Impossible was leading the Global Justice forces. With no sign of Ron, she turned her attention to the other man nearby.

"Dad, are you okay?" Kim asked, rousing herself from her shock.

"I think so," Dr. Possible was rather dazed and disoriented; a lifetime of plotting launch vectors and calculating gravity windows doesn't prepare one for the brute violence that he had just experienced. "Did I see Ronald here just a moment ago?"

"Yes!" Kim again looked around the chamber, even as she helped her father to his feet. Despite her preoccupation with Ron's disappearance, she noted that her father's hand suddenly clutched his lower, right torso. "You're hurt, dad."

"I sort of noted that myself," he informed her, trying to smile for his daughter's benefit. "So where is Ronald now?"

"I don't know!" She wailed. "He was right here! He helped me keep those things away from you, then he was gone! But before he was gone it was like he..." Her voice trailed off into silence.

"He..." James Possible prompted.

"He was in pain, and wounded," she told him. "He didn't take any major hits in the fighting; at least not enough to cause the all-over abrasions that he had. He said that he hurt everywhere, or something like that, then this brownish light surrounded him and he was gone!"

"Was he really here?" James winced at his own injuries, but curiosity kept him analyzing the situation. "Could he have been some sort of hologram or illusion?"

"He was here!" Kim insisted. "He hit the grimm and they reacted to him. He pulled you out of danger and he left the Lotus Blade!" She pointed to where the sword lay on the chamber floor.

"Maybe he's come up with some way of using the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer," James suggested. "But maybe it only works temporarily."

"Then how did he know to come here, right when we needed him?" Kim asked. "Something's wrong!"

Kim was forced to realize that more than the Ron sitch was wrong when her father slumped to the floor, still clinging to his lower right side. Before she could panic, Crash Cranston was there, easing the older man to the floor and pulling an emergency kit from his backpack.

"Kim," Dash DaMont approached the redhead. "Let Crash work on your father. We need you to help us. There may be more of these creatures to be found. We must secure this facility."

Kim nodded to the logic, even though she didn't want to. Leaving her father behind, albeit under the care of a specialist in emergency medicine and guarded by several Global Justice agents, she led Dash, Burn and the rest of the Global Justice strike team through first the passage, then the stairwell leading to the control room. Before she reached the door, Dash caught her shoulder and dragged her to a halt.

"Global Justice team!" The big man called towards the door. "Coming in!"

"Yeah, it took you long enough," Shego's snarky tone was unmistakable. "C'mon in."

Nodding at Dash's precaution, Kim led the way inside and looked around. Drakken seemed the worse for wear, but even he was struggling to his feet with Justine's help. Shego, on the other hand, was more than agitated.

"We gotta move, princess!" The longtime villain grabbed the redhead by the shoulder and dragged her back towards the stairwell. "Those things got Dementor and dragged him off up the stairs. I couldn't leave the control room with Drakken down."

Kim required no further urging, springing forward, ahead of Shego, and rushing up the stairs. Behind her, she could hear that at least two more people were on the stairs behind her former nemesis. "Where did the grimm with Fiske's heart go?" She snapped, hoping that Shego could understand her in the echoing stairwell.

"Couldn't see 'em," came the answer. "But the only grimm that survived were the ones that ran up this stairway. The heart is either behind us somewhere or with the ones that we're chasing."

Kim merely nodded, not caring if Shego noted the gesture or not. The redhead concentrated on running, ignoring her burning lungs as the steps flew by beneath her feet. Her ears told her that Shego was on her heels, but that they had quickly outdistanced whomever was backing them up. She squelched a momentary concern over this; she needed Dementor if she was going to have any hope of accessing Remnant. While she didn't know where her boyfriend was, she was sure that getting to Remnant was going to be the first step in tracking him down. If an ambush of grimm and Amy's creatures were waiting up in the lounge, she and Shego would just have to hold out until help could catch up to them.

Bursting into the lounge, the only grimm she noted were a couple of the chimpanzee creatures jumping out of the windows, and the giant bird in the distance, flying away. The two chimps, upon seeing her, turned to attack but each was struck by a precise burst of plasma, which dropped them to the floor. The redhead rushed to the broken window and stared at the giant bird, which was getting farther away every second. She swore she could see a couple of dark shapes on top of the creature, and a struggling figure in its claws.

"Wade!" She roared into her Kimmunicator, hoping that he could come through with another miracle.

"Go, Kim."

"What kind of surveillance can you get on this area?" She demanded. "We were just attacked by some dark creatures and they..."

"I was watching most of it," he interrupted. "Up until they started to destroy the cameras. What's the current sitch?"

"I think the giant bird has Dementor and the stone heart," Kim told him. "It's heading south-southeast from the mountain!"

"I'm accessing all sky-view cameras and PTZ capable cameras along that route," he reported. "If I can track it, I'll do it." For a few moments, they could only hear the rapid clicks of him working both a keyboard and a touch-screen at the same time. "I'm also getting some surveillance on Kongsoya Island."

"Why?" Shego asked, stalking up to her longtime rival.

"Because Dementor said that he was establishing a base there and staffing it with grimm." He answered, although the clicking didn't pause.

"And he was under the influence of the truth ray when he said it," Shego agreed. "Good thinking."

For the next several minutes, there was only the sounds of Wade's frantic efforts. "Got it!" He finally said. "The giant bird is continuing on course. I can see that it's carrying something...roughly Dementor's size...in its claws. I can't get very good pictures of it."

"Moving too fast?" Kim asked.

"No," he sounded slightly embarrassed. "You'd be surprised how many cameras just aren't designed to get good images of objects in flight. I'm able to track it for now. I could get the word out to the military."

"No!" Kim insisted. "Dementor is our only link to Ron and I don't want to risk it. I'm sure that Amy wants him for something, otherwise the grimm would have just killed him. Let's sit back, let her take him someplace where she feels safe, then make our move." Suddenly, she slumped weakly against a wall.

"Kim, what's wrong?" Wade's voice reflected his concern.

"Nothing to distract you at the moment," she insisted. "Track Dementor and keep me up to date."

"I can do that."

"Kim out." She put the Kimmunicator away and took a deep breath.

"Okay, princess," Shego drawled, but didn't sound sarcastic. "Something's got you off your game. What happened."

"He was there," Kim told her. "Ron, he was there for a while. He saved my father and me."

"Whoa," Shego had an expression that looked almost like...pity? "Possible, when things get really tense, people can see things that aren't really there. I've seen you fight, so are you sure you didn't do it yourself?"

"I'm not crazy, Shego!"

"Hey, kid, I never said you were," the older woman's hands came up in a placating gesture. "I'm just saying that you're human. You said was, I take it he's not here anymore."

"He vanished," Kim told her.

"So if he just vanished, how can you be sure that he was ever there?"

"Because my father saw him," Kim snarled. "And when he left, he left the..." Suddenly, Kim's eyes flew wide and she sprinted for the stairs.

With a sigh of exasperation, Shego followed her, passing a confused Dash and Burn at the top of the stairs. Gasping for breath, the two men rolled their eyes and started to trudge back down. Kim didn't wait; she flew down the long descent to the main chamber level. Bursting back onto the site where such violence had happened a short time ago, she rushed to the point where she had last seen Ron. Once there, she started searching among the wreckage of the machine that she had hoped would bring Ron back to her. While she was searching, circling the point where Ron had been in an ever-widening circle, Shego caught up to her.

"Okay, Princess," the older woman drawled, showing that she was breathing slightly harder than usual. "Care to fill me in on what it is you need to find so bad that you took off like a tofu salesman running away from a redneck barbecue?"

"Ron had the Lotus Blade with him," Kim told her, continuing to shift bits of machinery in her search. "I saw him drop it before he vanished. If it's still here...AHA!"

Kim pulled a short sword from the wreckage, not being versed enough to know the proper name for the form it displayed. It was a single-edged weapon, so she was sure it was an Asian blade of some sort. It had a bluish tint, a slight glow, and tingled in her hand, as if it were full of energy. Belatedly, she wondered if it was safe for anyone but its chosen wielder to hold. Deciding that she had just answered that question, she held it up for Shego to see.

"Okay, I didn't see any of those creatures carrying a sword," Shego admitted. "But that doesn't mean your boyfriend was here."

"What do you mean?" Kim demanded. "This is the Lotus Blade, the weapon that only Ron can call to him and make change forms."

"I remember Fiske gabbing about it a few times," Shego shrugged. "But keep in mind, this might just be some way to play you. We're dealing with people who like to use deceit. Amy might be a little naive, but she's awfully smart."

"How could she fool me into thinking that Ron was here, and why?" Kim demanded.

"Hey, calm down for just a minute," Shego snapped. "If she could convince you that you were close to getting your boyfriend back, she could trick you into doing something stupid, like storming Dementor's lair under Kongsoya Island, without proper recon, intel or backup." The experienced criminal thought for a moment. "As for how, there's ways to fool someone. Do we know where Camille Leon is? For all we know, that could have been her."

"But, the Lotus Blade!" Kim shook the weapon at Shego, prompting the older woman to take a precautionary step back.

"Can we get some confirmation?" Shego asked her. "I know that Stoppable can make it change shapes, and used that to let you know he was still alive and well. If that was him and he was hurt, he might not think of doing that again, so can someone else confirm that this thing's the real deal?"

"Like who?" Kim asked.

"Isn't that school in Japan...Yamanouchi...sort of built around the weapon? Would they have someone that would know if this is the real deal or not?"

"You're right!" Kim agreed, with a short nod. Carrying the blade, she made her way to the bay door that led out of the mountain. Shego caught up with her in the passage to the outside.

"So where are you going?" Kim's former opponent asked her.

"Outside, where I have Kimmunicator coverage," Kim informed her. Soon, the two were standing on a forested mountainside and the redhead keyed the communications device.

"Still tracking the bird," Wade reported.

"Wade, I need you to patch me through to Yamanouchi," she told her friend. "Please tell them it's vital."

"Can do," Wade told her. "It might be several minutes, due to the time difference. I'll let you know when I have someone on the line." The screen when dark again.

"So, Possible," Shego's voice broke the awkward silence between the two women. "I'm willing to bet that you're going to be storming a lair before too much longer."

Kim didn't answer with words, simply giving Shego an arch look.

"All I'm saying is that you don't have the buff...er...Stoppable backing you up," Shego continued. "Amy grabbed Dementor out from under me, and that doesn't sit well with my reputation. When it comes time to get the hobbit back, care for some company?"

"I..." Kim snarled, but then thought better of complaining. Shego would prove to be a powerful ally. "I appreciate it," she admitted, swallowing her pride. Before she could say anything more, her Kimmunicator chimed again.

"I've got Yori," Wade reported. A moment later, the Japanese woman's face replaced Wade's on the screen.

"Possible-San," Yori greeted her friend. "Lode-San informs me that Stoppable-San may have re-appeared for a short time."

"And he left the Lotus Blade," Kim held the weapon in front of the camera. "Is there any way that you can confirm that this is the real thing and not a fake?"

"A wise precaution," Yori offered a slight nod, to which Shego preened. "I have an operative in the United States at this time. He can be in the Middleton area sometime tomorrow and will be able to confirm that this blade is truly the Lotus Blade." She paused. "You look disheveled, are you injured in any way?"

"No," Kim sighed, now feeling incredibly weary. "We had a very violent encounter but we seem to have come through. Right now, we have to evaluate the damage and figure out how to move on. I'll have Wade forward you a full report once we figure things out."

"Please do so, and be well."

Kim nodded and cut the connection.

"Still tracking the bird," Wade reported. "It's heading more to the east, into sparsely populated areas. I'm hacking into some mobile cameras at this time, but keeping track of it is becoming a challenge."

"That's the most important thing, right now," Kim said, hoping to encourage him. Wade simply nodded and broke the connection. Kim had a glimpse of his dividing his attention between several screens before her screen went dark.

"Well princess, here comes the hard part," Shego drawled. "We get to head back down and deal with the aftermath. This is something you and your boyfriend never had to deal with, Drakken ranting while he was cleaning up after one of your raids."

Kim was in no mood to argue or comment, she simply led the way back down the passage towards the main chamber. As she approached, she could hear the blue man's voice.

"...hours and hours of labor," he whined, as Kim walked into the open chamber. "This was a precision build with multiple phases and aspects! We were working on a macro scale with microscopic attention to detail! Look at this, ruined!"

Ignoring the mad scientist for the moment, the redhead picked up her pace and rushed to her father, who was still being attended by Crash. The adventurer noted her approach and stood to meet her.

"Your father has at least one, maybe more, broken ribs," he told her. "He's in considerable pain, but is in no danger of permanent injury at this time. We have informed Middleton Medical Center, and they're sending a helicopter at this time." He paused a moment. "Your mother is currently in a procedure and will be brought completely up to date when she is done."

Kim could only nod her thanks before approaching her father. Tears welled up in her eyes at seeing him, hurt because of a mission she was running.

"Hey, Kimmie-cub," he greeted her, and she took one of his hands into both of hers. "Were you able to stop the bad guys?"

His voice was a little quieter than usual, but it wasn't frail, so Kim brought him up to date. It seemed to help keep his mind off of his pain. Before much longer, two paramedics pushed a medical cart into the chamber and loaded him on it.

"Don't worry about me, Kim," he offered her, as she walked next to him on the trip back up the passage. "You worry about tracking Ronald down." Suddenly, his eyes flew wide with concern.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Kim demanded.

"Since the fight, has anyone seen that little fellow, Rufus?" He asked.

Terrified anew, Kim rushed back into the chamber, wondering what could have happened to the naked mole rat.

* * *

It was a rattling, buzzing sound that made Yang stir from her sound sleep. For a moment, the sinfully soft, warm bed had her drifting off again, but the buzz-saw sound forced her eyes open to meet the dim light of the luxurious room. Startled, she looked around and realized that she was alone in the bed, alone in the room. The noise didn't repeat itself, forcing her to conclude that she had managed to wake herself up with her own snoring. She grabbed her scroll from the nightstand and realized that it was about thirty minutes before her alarm was set. Sighing, she realized that it wouldn't do any good to try to get back to sleep this late. Then she cheered up, thinking of a luxury hotel's shower and plenty of time to care for her hair.

While she had to wrap her cast in a cling-wrap, the effort was worth it. The surround shower massaged and cleaned her entire body while the water-wand allowed her to wash her hair with a thoroughness she had never managed before. Afterwards, the large mirrors guided her while she carefully dried and groomed her glorious mane. Bundled in one of the complimentary bathrobes, she left the bathroom smiling broadly, ready to face the day. That smile faded quickly when she contemplated the room.

Sure enough, Ron was asleep on the sitting room couch, the hairless rat curled up on his chest. While the furnishing was a fold-out, he had not extended it to its bed form, neither had he pulled a blanket out of the closet. It was clear to Yang that he had worked on his recordings until sheer exhaustion had finally allowed him to sleep. As much as she wanted to let him have his rest, he had an appointment for physical therapy, along with her and Nora, later in the morning. Wondering how waking up a friend could be harder than fighting a grimm, she forced herself to prod his shoulder.

He had a moment of confusion, wondering where he was, but he quickly regained his equilibrium. Yang carefully did not look at his bloodshot eyes, nor the faint tracks that his tears had left on his face. Instead, she informed him of the time and the fact that they should get moving. She maintained a stern demeanor until the young man, with his rodent companion, were in the bathroom. After that, alone for the moment, she let her sorrowful expression show on her face. When the woman she would always consider her mom vanished on a mission, her father had shut down. Yang was determined that her new friend would not do the same, so she would have to bully him into maintaining some sort of a routine, to keep functioning, until he came to grips with his grief. In her father's case, it had taken months. Yang could only guess how long it would take for Ron to finally break free of his depression.

While waiting for both young man and bald rat to take care of their morning routines, she knocked respectfully on the door separating the suites. Nora opened the door almost immediately. The shorter girl was also wearing one of the robes, telling Yang that she had also wrapped up her cast and taken advantage of the high-tech shower.

"Will the two of you be ready for breakfast in a half-hour or so?" Yang asked.

"Oh, yeah!" Nora gushed. "Ren isn't that much of a morning person, but I finally got him moving!"

Nora glanced over her shoulder as the young man in question, who looked severely disheveled, stumbled towards the other bathroom. On his way, he gave Nora a look that was equal parts shocked and baffled; Nora blushed in return. Insisting to herself that she didn't want to know what had taken place in the other suite during the night, Yang scooped up her clothing for the day and ducked into the sitting room to get dressed. Once properly attired, she returned to the bedroom, to meet Ron coming out of the bathroom. The young man was wearing the other robe while the rat was riding his shoulder, a washcloth around his waist as if it were a towel. While Ron went into the sitting room to get dressed, Yang wondered why the rat saw fit to cover himself. Deciding that trying to guess the modesty standards of a bald rodent wasn't a priority, she checked on her other two companions again.

For all that Ren wasn't a morning person, years of being an orphan meant that he could move quickly when needed. He was dressed and ready to go, brushing out his long hair when Yang knocked on the door. Yang again noted that whenever Ren and Nora looked at each other, he looked shocked and she blushed. She admitted to herself that she was curious as to what had happened during the night, but there was no way she was going to ask. Fortunately for her; Ron, with Rufus as a passenger, showed up and the four humans and one rat were ready to go to breakfast.

The elevator ride was more than awkward; Ron was acting something like a zombie while Ren and Nora were exchanging glances that made Yang blush. Finally, they reached the floor with the dining areas and found their way to a table. Nora immediately showed and interest in pancakes and the server pointed out an all-you-can-eat item on the menu. Smiling broadly, and with no protests from the rest of her group, Nora ordered this for the entire table. In a short time, a plate of the tasty, round and flat food was set on their table where, to Yang's amazement, Rufus matched Nora's consumption, pancake for pancake.

"This is impossible!" Yang complained, after the third helping. "Rufus has eaten more food than he has internal volume! It just can't be!"

"That's Rufus," Ron managed to rally just a little, smiling weakly as he looked at his diminutive friend. "If you think he's impressive with pancakes, wait until you see him with cheese."

"Well, I'm up for another round," Nora challenged the rat. "How about you?"

Rufus licked his chops and squeaked out something that sounded like "bring it."

While Ron remained listless, Yang and Ren stared on in amazement as the rat and the ginger girl devoured another platter full of the treats. Finally, Yang and Ren called a halt so that neither competitor would have to concede defeat. Rather than be grumpy about it, Nora acted like she had just made another friend. They got up from the table, expressing a desire to check out all of the amenities that the hotel offered. Ron stated that he wanted to go back to the room. Patting her pockets, Yang announced that she had left her scroll there and wanted to pick it up. Fortunately for her, none of her companions seemed to guess why she really wanted to accompany Ron.

Once Ron unlocked the door, he flopped onto the couch. Yang made sure that room service wasn't around before approaching him.

"Ron," she addressed him, causing him to open his eyes slightly. "This isn't going to be easy, but you can't just shut down like this."

"You didn't really forget your scroll, did you?"

"No," Yang admitted. "I need to have a word with you."

"Oh?" He asked, a little sarcasm creeping into his voice. "Are you going to tell me that this is all no big deal and I should be so happy that I'm singing and dancing about the sitch?"

"Of course not!" Yang told him, actually preferring his sarcasm to depression. "I'm going to tell you that you're in a horrible sitch...uation. You shouldn't be overjoyed, but you can't just shut down. You have people around you that will help you get through this. You have me, Ren and Nora..."

"Hey!" A squeak sounded from Ron's shoulder.

"And Rufus," Yang added. "When you meet up with them again, Flynt, Neon, Jaune and Ruby are all going to want to be there with you." Yang took a deep breath. "And...despite the awkwardness...Weiss is going to be there, as well."

"So I'm not allowed to be sad?" Ron actually sat up and fixed her with a challenging glare.

"Of course you're allowed to be sad!" Yang snapped back. "But you can't let it rule you! You have to keep living!"

"And you're the expert, Dr. Phil?"

Yang swore she could feel the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"I don't know who this doctor is," she admitted. "But I've seen this happen before!"

"Oh? Once makes you an expert?"

"It does if it happened to my own father and then to me!" She growled at him, becoming irritated despite her determination to keep her temper.

"What?" A great deal of Ron's defiance evaporated, replaced with concern. "What happened?"

"I don't know if you knew this, but Ruby and I have different mothers," Yang told him, taking a seat next to the young man. "My mother left us when I was very young. Ruby's mother, Summer, is the only mom that I can remember. One day, she went off on a mission and never came back. Dad just shut down, he wouldn't talk to anyone, he wouldn't do anything. Uncle Qrow had to take care of Ruby and me."

"I'm sorry..." Ron started.

"Don't," Yang interrupted. "My dad is the best dad there is; he'd give a stranger the shirt off of his back if they needed it more than him, he's been facing the bad guys and the grimm for longer than I've been alive and he's taught a whole generation of future hunters as Signal. He'd do anything for me and Ruby, but he couldn't handle Summer vanishing."

"But he eventually pulled out of it," Ron commented.

"Yeah, but it took him months before he could function, before he could take care of his daughters," Yang sighed. "We're the world to him, so it tells you how much it hurt him. It also hurt me and Ruby. We had just lost our mom and we needed him more than ever, but he wouldn't even talk to us. I was just old enough to understand that he must have been hurt more than we had, but Ruby was too young to understand. In a way, she latched on to Qrow as a father figure."

"Maybe he never got over it completely," Yang continued, after thinking for a few moments. "The only close friends he has are those he made before Summer vanished. These days, Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port, people he knew from his student days, are the only close friends he has."

"How about your uncle?" Ron asked.

"They're family, not friends," Yang pointed out. "If it weren't for their history, I don't think they'd get along at all. It's just that after all of the times they've backed each other through hard times, they're not about to stop. They might not like each other, but they love each other. I know it sounds weird."

"I understand," Ron told her. "I have a cousin that I'd smear into a paste if I could, but he's family." He paused a moment. "You said that you went through the same thing."

"When I lost my arm," Yang held up the robotic appendage, her voice trembling a little. "When...Adam...chopped it off, it hurt more than the pain, my whole life changed. Before that, I knew that I was always going to be the brawler; the tough huntress who could always fight her way out of any situation. Suddenly, I wasn't the brawler anymore, I couldn't fix everything by swinging my fists. I didn't just lose my arm...I lost who I was."

Ron opened his mouth a couple of times, like he wanted to speak but couldn't find the correct words.

"I went to a really dark place," she continued. "I had textbooks from Beacon with me, but I didn't see the point of studying since I couldn't be a huntress any more. I didn't work out, barely did the household chores dad made me do. Whenever Ruby talked to me about trying to get to the bottom of what happened at Beacon, trying to track down Cinder, Mercury and Emerald, I said that she was being an idiot. After all, what difference can a little girl make?"

Yang broke down into sobs and Ron placed a hand on her arm, her robotic arm, in a gesture of support and comfort.

"I can barely feel that," she told him. "It's like someone brushing against me while I'm wearing a heavy coat. I know what you mean to do and if it was on my left arm, I'd appreciate it. That's part of the problem I have with this arm; I can throw a stronger punch than with my left and I can block a strike that would have hurt me before, but it's only good for the brute force things. I have trouble holding glasses and dishes without breaking them, shaking hands without hurting people, knocking on doors without sounding like I'm trying to force my way in. Yet, for all of my complaints I have to admit that it's a wonderful gift; a brilliant piece of technology. When Adam took away my future, my dad and General Ironwood gave it back to me with this."

"But you're still not happy with it," Ron guessed.

"No," she admitted. "For the longest time, I didn't want to put it on. I was upset, thinking that everyone expected me to just learn to use it and carry on as if nothing had happened. How could I? I had been beaten and that bastard Adam only needed one slash to take off my arm! He could have chopped me in half if he had wanted to. How could I be a huntress, knowing that someone was out there who could kill me so effortlessly? If I went back out into the world, it was only a matter of time before I met him again, and what would happen to me this time?"

She wasn't sobbing; she had gone over this in her head dozens of times, but it still wasn't easy for her.

"It wasn't until one night, when Port and Oobleck were visiting my father, that I realized that people still counted on me." She told him. "I overheard Port asking dad if he had thought of heading out to look for Ruby. Dad said that he had other things that needed attention and I knew that he meant me."

Now, Yang sobbed again.

"It wasn't enough that I wasn't able to go with Ruby when she wanted to make a difference," Yang wailed. "Because I wouldn't crawl out of that dark hole I crawled into, dad couldn't leave me behind! How much danger did Ruby run into while dad was staying close to me, trying to pull me out? That's what finally got me to do something, realizing that even though I had been hurt, other people were still out there; people who needed help. Somehow, putting this arm on made me face up to the fact that it was still a cold, cruel world, but it wouldn't let me be if I hid under my bed. I hate this arm! I hate that I can't feel with it, I hate that I still break things with it and I hate that I need it! But when I put it on, I realized that it's not just me that's better off because I wear it, I realized that I'm still part of the world and that my crying in the kitchen wasn't doing the world any good."

"Adam is still out there," she gasped, her chest heaving from the emotions she had let out. "But he's going to be out there whether I'm getting ready for him, or if I'm living my life, or if I'm hiding away. If I just stayed hidden and safe on Patch, he would win and I'd never get past him. With a lot of help from my dad, I was able to move on with the life I had planned before he maimed me."

For several minutes, Ron and Rufus just looked at her, wondering what to say.

"So what do you want me to do?" Ron asked her.

"I understand that you're sad," she told him. "Your world has been torn apart in a way that mine wasn't, but you're too good of a person to spend your days in a dark bedroom, suffering. Yes, you need to grieve and you need to come to terms with this. I...I can't understand the relationship that you had with this Kim, from your world, but it must have been something wonderful. Mourn your loss, but understand that there are people here that want to be there for you, and still more people that need you."

Ron opened his mouth, but Yang held up a hand, silencing him for another moment.

"You're one of the good guys, Ron. I don't know your history from...Earth...but it prepared you to be a hero here. The people of Remnant need you, and I think Weiss needs you, as well."

"How can Weiss need me?" He asked. "She's the probably the smartest, most together person that I know."

"She is," Yang agreed. "But she's also one of the loneliest. I don't know what it is; maybe it was awakening your aura, maybe you have the right personality, but the two of you clicked. She's happier when she's with you."

"But how can I face her?" Ron asked. "After..."

"We went through this!" Yang insisted. "You didn't impose on her! What the two of you nearly did might have been impetuous and maybe a little foolish, but it wasn't anything wrong!"

"It _was_ wrong," Ron countered. "Okay, I didn't do anything to Weiss, I understand that. But what about Kim?"

"Kim?" Yang was confused.

"I nearly cheated on her!" Now it was Ron's turn to sob. "I made that commitment to her, but I nearly went back on it!"

"Ron, I don't understand your marriage customs," Yang told him. "But I think that you are supposed to give her that ring when you ask, and she wears it to show that she accepted. You hadn't actually asked her, had you?"

"It doesn't matter!" Ron looked offended by the suggestion. "I had already made the commitment, and she had, as well. When it comes down to it, you're really married before you pop the question; the ceremony only formalizes it. If I couldn't keep my vow before I gave her the ring, it means that I wouldn't have been able to after the ceremony." He took a shuddering breath. "I never knew that I could be so weak in that regard."

"I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit," Yang told him. "Okay, I'm sure Dr. Oobleck would have a field day comparing marriage customs between our worlds but I'm going to take a guess and say that marriage is a more powerful institution on Earth than it is on Remnant. I'm also going to guess that this means not living up to your vows is more dire on Earth than it is on Remnant. You're taking your oath seriously, even before you make it, and that's a good thing. But let me tell you something else, I can understand when the vow becomes unrealistic."

Ron glared at her, but she held up a hand again.

"Listen," she ordered, keeping him silent for a moment. "Let's say that I had a boyfriend. Let's say that he was suddenly sucked away to another world and found out that he had almost no hope of ever getting back. Let's say that he held onto that slim hope for months, doing everything he could to help those in this new world while trying to get back to me. Let's say that during the months that he was trying to get back, he had developed a strong friendship, a mutual support and dependency thing, with someone else. Now let's say that he was forced to choose between saving people on this other world and getting back to me, and decided that the lives of thousands were more important than his own happiness. After all of this, if I found out that _after_ his last hope of getting back to me had been taken away, something that he was incredibly shook up about, he had a moment of weakness, during a moment of mutual support and comfort with someone, I'd be upset, but I could move past it."

"It's all a moot point, isn't it?" Ron sighed, then chuckled, bitterly. "Back on my world, more than fifty years before I was born, there was a terrible war between my nation and another country*. This war was fought across a large ocean, that had all sorts of islands on it. After the other side surrendered, there were men who stayed on these islands, refusing to surrender, for decades. The war was over, they couldn't make any difference any more, but they still held out. In some cases, their former commanders were called in, out of retirement, to go out and tell them that their duty had been fulfilled. Whenever I read about them, I thought they were idiots, throwing their lives away for no benefit to anyone. But now I think I understand them; if the life you were living was the only one you ever understood, you don't really want to give it up." He took a deep breath. "So, what do I do now?"

"You live," Yang told him. "You were a hero back on Earth, you can still be a hero here on Remnant. But living means more than just fighting the bad guys and rescuing the innocent; it means _living_. For you, that's going to mean friends, occupational partners, rivals and yes, probably romance at some point. Don't sell yourself, those around you, and the world short by not _living_."

"I don't know if I'm ready to do the whole _make a life in Remnant_ thing," Ron sighed. "But maybe we'd better catch up with Ren and Nora. I think there's a fitness center downstairs somewhere and it would be a shame if she were to break some of the machines."

"It's a start," Yang offered a smile. Ron returned it. It was a sad smile, but at least it was a smile.

 _It's a start_.

* * *

Middleton seemed to break rules.

Kim considered this while she waited at her table in the Middleton Motor Lodge's restaurant. Middleton was a small city, in a place that shouldn't really have a city. While her home town was located on an old trading route, near a minor pass through the Rockies, there should have been a good-sized town at the location, not a thriving city. Add to this, a city of this size, located where it was, shouldn't play host to a space center, the headquarters of a major, international police organization, or even a pickle cannery for that matter.

Reflecting on this, Kim could almost understand Global Justice and the Middleton Space Center locating here; there was plenty of open and relatively inexpensive land east of the mountains. There were also caves under the city, which were probably very attractive for an organization that liked to operate underground. However, she couldn't wrap her head around why the Pickle Works had chosen to open shop in Middleton; wouldn't they have been better served locating near a major cucumber producing area?

The final rule that Middleton broke was the restaurant she was sitting in at the moment. Dining facilities located in hotels were not, as a rule, known for high-quality dining. For the most part, they were places that you could get a quick and good, not extravagant, meal; the sort that a tired traveler would want at night, or someone who had a long day's drive ahead of them would like. Instead, this restaurant was a gem, offering excellent choice and quality.

Of course, she felt more than a little odd, sitting in a private booth with a sword next to her.

"Miss Possible?" The voice carried a Japanese accent and the face that went with it looked somewhat familiar. "May I join you? I understand you have something that you would like examined by a representative of...well...a certain mountaintop school."

"Of course," Kim indicated the seat across the table from her. "Would you be willing to name a mutual friend, just to confirm your identity."

"Of course," the newcomer nodded politely and slid onto the aforementioned seat. Kim took the opportunity to study him a bit. He was graceful, putting no weight on the table as he took his seat. He was a tall man, with a bulky yet athletic build. His face was handsome, piquing Kim's memory.

"My associate, and cousin is named Yori," he told the redhead. "But of course, I would call her Tanaka-san. Still, you and your companion, one Ronald Stoppable, were on a first name basis with her."

Her fiance's name gave her yet another jolt of loss and pain, yet the names confirmed his identity.

"I'm convinced," she told him, lifting the case from its place beside her. "Would you like to see it now?"

"If it isn't too much inconvenience," he replied. He then looked at her, a bit of humor joining the sympathy he had shown. "You don't recognize me, do you?"

"I don't believe I've met you before," Kim tilted her head slightly, trying to place where she might have seen him previously.

"It was several years ago," he smiled, while opening the case. "Perhaps if my hair was styled in an unruly mass, if I wore a leather jacket, or if I rode a motorcycle, you would have an easier time."

"Hirotaka?" Kim gasped. In her mind, she matched the man's face with the boy who made her heart race, for a week, back in high school.

"I am quite flattered," he confirmed his name, while looking at the blade. "During our previous meeting, I played the part of a teen heartthrob. I confess that I prefer a more modest identity."

"So, what brings you here?" Kim asked.

"A couple of reasons," he told her, placing a hand on the weapon. "I carry the blood of Toshimiru, so I have a very minor link to the blade."

As he spoke, the blade's dim glow grew a little brighter, and the color a deeper blue.

"The blade will respond, slightly, to my presence," he continued. "As you can see. This confirms that the blade is, indeed, the Lotus Blade. I will have it returned to Yamanouchi immediately...with your permission."

"Of course," Kim nodded. "But you said that there were a couple of reasons for you coming here."

"Perhaps we could order dinner," he suggested. "I have an offer to extend from my organization."

"What sort of an offer?" Kim asked.

"Perhaps we could order first," Hirotaka suggested, nodding at the approaching waiter.

"An excellent idea," Kim sighed. "I haven't been eating proper meals as of late."

"So I can imagine," Hirotaka assured her, then immediately quieted as the waiter approached.

To Kim's surprise, he ordered an Italian meal while she went for the classic beef and potatoes dish.

"If I may be so bold," he said, once the waiter had left with their orders. "Did you find something amusing?"

"Maybe it's stereotyping on my part," Kim admitted. "I was expecting you to order fish."

"Which is more in line with typical, Japanese cuisine," Hirotaka noted. "When I am away from my home country, I like to indulge in the local treats, even if I misuse intelligence just a little."

"Misuse?"

"Yamanouchi has a great deal of interest in your boyfriend," Hirotaka told her. "So we learned what we could about many of Middleton's residents. I learned that this establishment's chef is the third generation born from Italian immigrants, all of whom have cooked for a living." He smiled shyly. "Perhaps that is misusing the Yamanouchi database, but it seems a very small offense."

Both Kim and Hirotaka went silent again, as the waiter showed up with their salads. Kim hadn't been joking when she had complained about not eating well, and dug into the greens with great gusto.

"Perhaps now is a good time to explain the offer Yamanouchi is prepared to extend," Hirotaka explained, while Kim was busy eating. "Like I just said, Yamanouchi is very interested in the well-being of Ron Stoppable. Between your correspondence with Yori and our various agents, we know what has happened to him and can make some reasonable guesses as to your efforts to recover him."

"And what efforts do you think I'm going to take?" Kim asked, after taking a moment to swallow the mouthful of salad.

"We suspect that you are about to attempt to recover one Professor Dementor, from the clutches of Dr. Amy Hall," he answered. "We do not know details, but allow me to present Yamanouchi's offer. We wish to have one of our agents accompany you, as an assistant, to increase your chances of success."

"What does Yamanouchi get out of this?" Kim asked, suddenly wary. "Yamanouchi has already received what it wanted from Ron; he protected and prepared the Han, then threw back the Lowardian invasion. I'm very suspicious of organizations who offer help without gaining something in return."

"Miss Possible," Hirotaka maintained a very calm voice, though his expression clearly showed that he was insulted. "You must know that we at Yamanouchi revere and honor Stoppable-San. Aside from the debt of honor that we owe him, his mastery of the Mystical Monkey Power makes him a powerful force; one that is, at the very least, friendly towards our organization. Seeing him returned to the world is not merely an act of honor, it is an act of practicality."

"So Yamanouchi has reasons both honorable and self-serving to assist me?" Kim asked. Hirotaka didn't trust himself to speak, only to nod.

"And who would this agent be?" Kim asked, now feeling considerably less defensive.

"That would be myself, Miss Possible," Hirotaka told her. "Or Yori, or any other who you may choose. I can assure you that I fully understand that you will be the one in charge of this mission. I will simply assist in any way that I can. I can also assure you that, as a fully trained ninja of Yamanouchi, I can provide a great deal of assistance during such a mission."

They had to halt their conversation again, as the waiter brought their meals. After the man left, the two continued the conversation.

"Sorry for harshing on you," Kim apologized. "I guess that's a theme for me and Yamanouchi, harshing and suspicion before becoming friends."

"You have been under a great deal of stress," Hirotaka said, accepting her apology. "Honest and reasonable suspicions can become much greater under such circumstances. However, may I ask if you intend to accept our offer?"

"You can, and I do," Kim smiled at him. "And I'd be honored to have you backing me up, as long as you answer a few questions."

"I will say anything that I am able," Hirotaka assured her. "But please remember that I am a member of a secretive organization."

"Of course," Kim nodded. "First question, you got here very fast, within a few hours of my requesting confirmation that I had the actual Lotus Blade. How did you manage that?"

"I was on an assignment for Yamanouchi," Hirotaka answered. "I won't give full details, but it was in the northwest of your nation, so getting to Colorado didn't take a great deal of time."

"Okay, second question, why did Master Sensei have you come to Middleton as an exchange student, those years ago?"

"My master does not confide all of his reasons with me," Hirotaka replied, somewhat evasively.

"But was this one of the times he didn't?" Kim pressed.

"No," Hirotaka admitted. "Master Sensei did some basic research on the dynamic you and Stoppable-San shared. He knew that you were extremely close friends and wanted you distracted while Ron was away."

"So he sent a teen heartthrob to keep me preoccupied," Kim finished.

"In a word, yes," Hirotaka agreed. "However, he gave me a great deal of latitude with which to act. If it makes you feel any better, I had no intention of playing on your affections any more than I needed to keep your mind away from your friend."

"I took care of it myself," Kim finished, a slightly pained smile on her face. "Crushing like a..."

"Like a teenager," he concluded.

"Okay, I got played in a harmless way," Kim shrugged. "It wasn't as bad as when I got played later. But back to Yamanouchi; was there any special reason that Master Sensei had Yori meet Ron?"

Hirotaka studied the young woman in front of him for several heartbeats.

"I take it that I just approached an uncomfortable issue," Kim noted, breaking the silence.

"Indeed," Hirotaka paused a little more, composing his thoughts. "Miss Possible, please understand that I am both guessing my master's motives, as well as telling you this uncomfortable truth. If I wished to take the easy, but less honorable path, I could simply state that of all the Yamanouchi students, Yori and I had the most complete grasp of North American English. With me being in Middleton, Yori was assigned to assist your companion, by default."

"But you suspect your master had additional reasons..."

"Indeed," Hirotaka plunged forward. "I suspect that Master Sensei had hoped that Mr. Stoppable, being a teenage boy, would react favorably to a teenage girl. I also suspect that he hoped that my cousin would experience an attraction to him."

"He was trying to set them up?" Kim asked, one eyebrow arching upwards.

"I do not think he intended anything so serious," Hirotaka corrected her. "But I believe that he intended that Yori and Ron may show at least some interest in each other. Why, I cannot tell you."

"Okay, you've been honest with me," Kim admitted. "I'll be honest with you. I would very much appreciate backup from Yamanouchi when facing Amy. Wade is finding out what he can about where the grimm took Dementor and where we suspect he was setting up a lair. I could be moving within the next 24 hours."

"In which case, may I suggest you get some rest?" Hirotaka offered, pulling a business card from his jacket pocket. "Here is my contact information. I have rented a room in this very establishment, and will be at your disposal whenever you require."

Kim's words of thanks were interrupted by her Kimmunicator chiming.

"Go, Wade," she answered, while Hirotaka studiously dug into his meal, deliberately ignoring her.

"I've got intel," the young man reported. "The grimm delivered Dementor to a VTOL craft of some sort, which I am now tracking towards Kongsoya Island."

"Anything more?" Kim asked.

"I've...sort of modified a satellite to perform a ground penetrating radar scan of the island. I'll have 3D maps of the tunnels underneath it in another 24 hours or so. I'm also getting some drones on line; in another ten hours, I'll have eyes set up on the island and be able to watch anything that comes and goes."

"Okay, get some rides set up," Kim ordered. "As soon as you get a solid plot on what's out there, I'll be on my way. When I go, I'll be taking Shego and an agent from Yamanouchi with me."

Smiles had been rare as of late, but one found its way onto her face. "Let Team Go, Team Impossible and Global Justice know that they can come along, if they want to. It's time to let Amy know just how much messing with my recovery operation and injuring my father irritates me."

* * *

"Well, I guess things are finally looking up a little."

Yang whispered these words to herself as she stood in the suite's sitting room, watching Ron and Rufus sleep. After her talk with Ron the previous day, the boy had made a solid effort to rally himself. He hadn't really succeeded, but she figured that his making the effort was the first step. While it was obvious that he was forcing himself to act interested in the hotel's amenities, he was trying. While he had obviously forced himself to act delighted to learn that the hospital had released him, completely, after yesterday's checkup, at least he was trying. While he had clearly forced himself to act like he was interested in coming up with his own symbol, at least he was making the motions. With any luck, he would eventually start living again.

Case in point; last night he had actually folded out the couch and changed into his pajamas, settling down for some real sleep. He still looked sad, but at least he was getting back into something resembling a normal routine.

On top of that, she and Nora were recovering faster than expected. The constant, light exercise that the two young women received by wandering Mistral was doing an excellent job enhancing the healing process. Hopefully, the two of them would be ready for action in another week. Add to this piece of news, Yang had heard from Ruby. While they still needed to use the communication device; Weiss' dirigibles hadn't extended call communications to areas outside of the kingdoms yet, Ruby had sent her a fairly long message last night. Unfortunately for Yang, that message was about the last of the good news for the moment.

While Ruby and her companions were fine, they weren't about to come back to Mistral. The survivors in BatiKiyisi were subject to almost constant grimm attacks so capable defenders were in desperate need. Yang understood; as much as her younger sister would want to come back and be with herself, their father and their uncle, she wasn't about to turn her back on people in need. In a strange way, Ruby was in her element, doing what she had wanted to do since she had been a little girl.

The message also notified them that General Ironwood's condition was horrible but an airship had arrived from Mistral and they were going to evacuate him back to the capitol. He should arrive the following day. However, this news only brought the other bad news to the forefront of Yang's mind; Weiss was still not answering calls and texts and Uncle Qrow still hadn't returned from the north. There was going to be a major, and probably desperate, battle start in Kuchinashi in the next few hours...assuming it hadn't already started. Yang was pretty sure that this very day, Ron would be arranging transport to the south.

The young man started to stir, prompting Yang to quickly slip out of the sitting room. While she was concerned about her friend, she didn't want to be seen as some sort of creep, studying him as he slept. Instead, she made her way to the balcony and watched the sun rise over Mistral City. After several minutes, a tap on the door behind her preceded Ron joining her, with two mugs of coffee and Rufus on his shoulder. She accepted one of the cups with a smile and the two of them stared down over the city for a few minutes, taking in the fresh morning and considering the possibilities, good and bad, that the new day represented.

"I appreciate what you're doing," Ron finally told her, his voice very quiet.

"It's what friends do," Yang answered, deciding to not act like she didn't know what he was talking about. "It might not feel right, but you're going to have to get into a routine again. You're not doing anyone any good by sulking."

Ron only nodded, then offered a slight wave to a point past her. Looking in that direction, Yang saw that Ren and Nora were now standing on the adjoining balcony, a few feet away.

"So what's the plan for today?" The ginger girl asked. Yang noted that both of them also had cups of coffee in hand, and that Nora leaned against Ren. Both of them had very peaceful, content expressions on their faces.

"For us, poking around, trying to learn something, and going to physical therapy later," Yang shrugged. "I think Ron's going to be making some travel arrangements, so we might as well go to the train station with him."

"How did you know?" Ron gasped.

"I saw your pack, packed and ready to go, in the sitting room," Yang told him.

"That, and you're already fully dressed, with your weapons at your side," Ren added. "You are preparing to go into danger. May I assume that you intend to travel to Kuchinashi?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded.

"Weiss?" Yang asked.

"I don't want her to get killed because she feels guilty," Ron told them. "Besides, fighting is one of the few skills I have, so I might as well head down there where it will do people some good."

"Just don't be stupid," Nora told him. "You're still feeling sad, so don't...well...make sure you come back. We've lost enough friends."

"I will," Ron assured them. "I..."

He stopped talking, a stunned look on his face.

"What is it?" Yang asked.

"It's happening again!" He gasped. "I'm about..."

Suddenly, his aura flared, blanketing him and Rufus with a brown light. Then, with a loud pop, the light vanished. Ron and Rufus were gone.

For over a minute, Yang, Ren and Nora could only stare at the point where Ron had been standing.

"So...that's what it looks like," Nora finally quipped. "What do we do now?"

"I guess the only thing we can do is wait," Yang answered. "And maybe get some first aid supplies ready. He'll be back, and in a lot of pain, in a few minutes."

* * *

 _*I am trying to keep the Kim Possible universe current with mine. In the series, Kim and Ron graduated high school in the class of 2006, which would mean that Ron was born in either 1989 or 1988. I am writing this chapter in 2017 and have decided that Ron is 20 years old. This means that for this story, he was born in 1997._

 _As always, huge thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading.  
_

 _Until the next update, best wishes._

 _daccu65_


	33. Chapter 33

Yet another beowolf fell, Crescent Rose's blade separating head from neck. Twirling, Ruby slashed at another grimm, one that looked like an over-sized rat. The agile creature avoided the strike, but its leap put it right in Crocea Mors' path. The blade skewered the grimm and continued, digging into a creep's leg. This creature shrieked in rage and pain, which caused it to lift its head and allowed Ruby to decapitate it. Ruby slumped backwards, her back meeting Jaune's. The two leaned against each other, gasping for breath and looking for more foes while the latest grimm attack dissipated into black vapor that the breeze quickly dispersed.

Flynt and Neon joined them, their leader shouting the word "clear". In the near distance, the call was repeated, as the handful of fighters let everyone know that the latest grimm wave had been eliminated.

"You two are something else," Flynt told the two Beacon Students, shaking his head in admiration. "You always set yourselves in front of the heaviest attack and break it up. There's going to be songs sung about you before too much longer."

"Right now, I could go for a lullaby," Jaune answered. Ruby could only nod her agreement.

"You two are putting in more time than anyone else," Flynt pointed out. "Why can't you take a rest every once in awhile? You're going to go flat if you don't take a break."

"I'm tired of losing people," Jaune told him.

"Well, you're not going to do anyone any good if you keep this up," Neon told him.

"That's right," Flynt added. "As team leader, I'm telling the two of you to take a break. Get some food and some rest. We're supposed to have another convoy of relief supplies showing up in a few more hours. With any luck, there will be some more fighters with it to give us a breather. In the meantime, the two of you are going to the dining hall...now."

"Fine," Jaune grumbled, setting his course towards the semi-repaired building where food was prepared for survivors and relief workers alike. He shortened his stride, so Ruby wouldn't have to trot to keep up with him.

"I don't understand," Ruby admitted. "With all of the trucks coming and going, why don't they just evacuate everyone to Soguk Su? Wouldn't it be easier for everyone?"

"Other towns won't take in the refugees," Neon told them, her voice sad.

"Why not?" Ruby asked.

"It makes sense," Flynt's voice was also sad. "The folks here are really down and that's bringing the grimm. The folks in Soguk Su don't want to bring them in, because that will bring the grimm to them."

"It can be sort of a cycle," Neon told them. "If they take in the sad and angry refugees, grimm attacks pick up. That makes everyone frightened and angry, which brings more grimm. Pretty soon, people are arguing with each other over whether they should have brought in the refugees or not. Arguing turns into fighting and that brings still more grimm. Next thing you know, the town that accepted the refugees is reduced to just a handful of refugees, itself."

Ruby gave the faunas a pointed look.

"Yeah, that happened to me," Neon admitted.

"But it's a song to hear another day," Flynt insisted. "For now, food then sleep."

"I'd like to check on General Ironwood first," Jaune told his leader.

"After food," Flynt insisted. "The two of you are barely on your feet."

Ruby wanted to argue, to insist that she was still ready for whatever could come next, but she realized that it would be a lie. There was a reason she and Jaune had agreed to make Flynt the team leader. The older boy wasn't just tactically sharp; he understood that he had to maintain his teammates. Reflecting on the fact that there was a whole lot more to running a hunter team than she had appreciated before, that fighting the battle was only a small part, she accompanied her companions to the kitchen.

As capable fighters, her team was exempted from kitchen duty, but there were no hard stares directed their way when they took their place in line and collected plates, bowls and silverware. Everyone could see how tired and disheveled they were as they received their portions of stew and bread before finding a table to sit at. Surprisingly to Ruby, while the food didn't have much in the way of variety, it was actually very good and there was plenty of it.

The destruction of the town had strange consequences. The outlying farms and ranches, as well as the great lake, still provided food. However, there was no working water system, no sewage system and no refrigerators. As a result, food couldn't be preserved so everyone was encouraged to eat as much as they could when it was available. Water had to be boiled to be safe, which was difficult with limited fire dust, so while there was enough water for drinking, cooking and dish washing, there wasn't enough warm water for showers. Sponge-baths were the order of the day.

Despite the hardships, Ruby felt somehow more alive than she had ever felt. This was what she had wanted to do since she had been a little girl; to stand between innocent people and the grimm. She had never thought of adverse conditions while doing so, but it made sense and made it feel more...real. The difficulties drove home that few people would be willing to do this.

To her right, she heard the sound of a spoon falling into an empty bowl. Jaune had taken very little food and had already finished. This was something that concerned her; while she was no nutritionist, she was sure that someone of his size, working as hard as he was, should be eating a great deal more than he was. Something was bothering him and she suspected that it wasn't the long hours, fighting and primitive living conditions.

"So, have you heard anything more from Mistral?" Neon asked, seeing that Jaune was available for conversation.

"Nothing since last night," he told her, his voice subdued. "I'll make another report when we're done, before I turn in for the night."

"Don't take too long," Flynt instructed, his tone leaving no room for argument. "We need you functioning. You're spending too much of your down time out of your sleeping bag. You can't keep this up."

"I'll be fine," Jaune grumbled.

"No you won't!" Flynt snapped. "I'm serious! No more than a half hour after your butt leaves this table, it's in your bed, understand?"

"I understand," the blonde answered. "I just want to check on General Ironwood."

"I'll make sure he finds his way to his bed," Ruby told the other two. "What are the two of you going to be doing?"

"I have a meeting with the town council...or what's passing for it at the moment," Flynt told her. "Now that Weiss' dirigible is close enough, they can communicate with Atlas." He shook his head. "I guess Weiss didn't have time to test her contraption before sending it over here, it only allows signals to go to Atlas, but it's a whole lot better than nothing. They're putting together a wish list, telling the Atlas government what we need here. Hopefully, Mistral will get the word and send some help, as well."

"I've got the early night watch," Neon informed her teammates. "So I'm going to have to get moving."

The lithe girl scooped up her dishes and delivered them to the collection table before waving and leaving. Ruby understood the situation; with shortages of both fire and lightning dust, the enhanced night vision and hearing that the handful of faunas available had was invaluable at night.

"I'm serious," Flynt reminded the other two. "Jaune, you've been working yourself to death and Ruby, you're not much better. You need to take care of yourselves. We can't afford to lose any fighters."

The musician fixed them with a stern eye until both agreed to get some proper sleep. Satisfied, but clearly suspicious, Flynt followed Neon's example, dropping off his dishes for one of the other volunteers to wash.

"This doesn't feel right," Jaune complained, as he and Ruby also dropped off the dishes. "We're not celebrities, we should be cleaning up after ourselves."

"Everyone is doing what they can," Ruby reminded him. It was an argument that they had before, but she was hoping that she could get him to talk. "We're fighters, so we fight. The ones who can cook and clean, do it so that we're free to fight."

"I know," he sighed. "It just seems that we really haven't done all that much, but everyone's making such a fuss about having us here."

"We've done quite a bit," Ruby countered, leading the way towards the makeshift hospital. "Since we've gotten here, every time the grimm have come we've been there to fight them, and nobody has died from a grimm attack while we've been here."

"It just seems like we should have done more. They wouldn't even be in this situation if we'd stopped the bomb..."

"Stop it!" She snarled at him. "We've been over this! We were fooled by a master criminal who had every advantage over us! If Winter Schnee says that it was our fault, she can just...well...do something that isn't very pleasant."

"Something that isn't very pleasant?" Despite the situation, Jaune couldn't help but smile at this.

"I don't like using the terms that I've heard Uncle Qrow use," she sniffed. "But you get the idea, she has no place to criticize us for what happened. I...feel bad about it...but we're not the ones that did it!"

By now, they had reached the patched buildings where some of the fighters, including their team, stayed. Jaune pulled the communication devices and the antenna out of his pack and went to work setting up to send and receive a message.

"There's something else," Ruby continued. "Something I heard dad and Qrow discussing once, when they thought I was asleep. Dad had just come back from one of Ozpin's missions and was feeling really bad; I guess there was a grimm attack on a village and he wasn't...able to save everyone. Qrow told him that every person he saved was just that; a person he saved and not a representation of those that he didn't save. If villagers were attacked by grimm and he rescued four while two were killed, it was a tragedy but he rescued four...he didn't fail two."

"I didn't believe this for a long time," the girl admitted. "I was going to be an aura-powered huntress, so of course I could save everyone. Then, I couldn't get past Mercury and Penny died. Then I didn't get to the top of the tower and..."

"I know," Jaune finished setting up the transceiver and rested his hand on her shoulder in that comforting gesture that he had developed. "And thanks for sharing this."

They looked at each other and Ruby really... _really_ wanted to say something but she couldn't decide what to say. It was pretty obvious that he wanted to say something, or maybe do something, as well. It was awkward and was it lucky that Jaune's scroll suddenly chimed, indicating a message received? Both relieved and regretful, she stepped back from him as he checked his scroll. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Mistral is sending an airship for General Ironwood!" He told her. "It will get here late tomorrow and will have the capacity to carry four more people in addition to him!"

"Let's get to the clinic and let them know!" Ruby was already on her feet.

"Wait a minute," he held up a hand. "There's a message from Yang to you that I can transfer to you scroll without opening it...it looks like Nora and Yang are recovering well..."

Yesterday, Ruby had been relieved to learn that Yang was in Mistral but was horrified that she had been injured. Knowing that her sister was going to recover took a weight off of her chest...even if the blonde would probably give her an earful about wandering off like she did.

"...and I can send our report." Jaune finished. "I'll leave it on line while we visit the clinic, in case there's something that they need to let us know."

Ruby nodded and let him lead her towards the makeshift clinic, where the wounded were being treated as best they could. She was so intent on Yang's message that she would have probably walked into the lake if Jaune hadn't been subtly steering her towards the patched-up structure. In a way, the survivors were very unfortunate in that the hospital had been destroyed. However, they were fortunate that an experienced veterinarian survived. Working with the medic that had accompanied the relief convoy that had picked up their team, as well as the medical supplies, the survivors were receiving very good medical care.

The medical professionals welcomed the news that a ship would be arriving to remove some of the wounded. The vast majority, of course, could heal up without going to a kingdom's medical facility; it was a gritty reality that the most horribly wounded had succumbed before the survivors could organize treatment...and before any assistance arrived. As it was, General Ironwood was the most serious case in the remnants of BatiKiyisi. As with their earlier visits, Jaune insisted on seeing the general; there was no real change.

The general had never really regained consciousness. While he occasionally awoke, he was unable to speak and didn't seem to recognize anyone around him. While he was able to take some water during these spells, he was unable to eat. His robotic body parts did not function, leaving the veterinarian to theorize that the explosion had somehow fried the electronics. The man couldn't guess how it had affected Ironwood's brain, through the interface. The sum total of his condition was that he was weakening each day. Ruby could only hope that a hospital at Mistral would be able to bring him back, where the primitive facilities here could not.

"C'mon, Jaune," she grabbed her companion's wrist and pulled him away, knowing that he was reluctant to leave yet another person he knew. "You can't do anything and standing here, when you should be resting, isn't doing you any good."

"I know," he murmured. "It's just..."

"I know."

That simple acknowledgment seemed enough to get him moving. He accompanied her back to their quarters; and the curtained-off section for their team. While Jaune was able to take off his armor, and both were able to take off their boots, there weren't enough fighters to allow them to put on their pajamas; they had to be ready to wake up and fight at a moment's notice. Still, it was good to be able to relax a little. Ruby felt calmed by the sound of Jaune's breathing, and knew that he was relaxed by her presence, as well.

A bell's clanging woke her. Before she opened her eyes, she grabbed her boots and pulled them on. She could hear Jaune pulling his on, as well. The light coming in through the windows was dim, telling her that it was early morning. They had managed several hours of sleep, which was better than last night. Jaune shrugged on his chest-piece and then they were off, out of the door and running towards the bell while he pulled on his spaulders and gauntlets. It was a testament to his increasing experience that he could get them on while sprinting to a conflict.

There were no walls around the occupied fragment of BatiKiyisi, so the bell was located on the roof of one of the few, remaining two story buildings. As the duo approached the place, a townsman yelled down, saying that there were a couple of big ones, and pointing in the proper direction. Leaving the town behind them, Jaune and Ruby rushed out to catch the grimm as far from the civilians as possible. Rushing through the shrubs and grasses that once formed the outskirts of the town, they quickly found their quarry when a pair of Ursa lumbered in from around a plum thicket.

"Usual way?" Ruby asked her companion.

"Sounds good," he offered her a tight smile.

Ruby slipped in behind Jaune, who trotted forward to engage them. A fore-paw slashed at him and he caught the blow on his shield, holding it up. Ruby quickly slipped around him and slashed the appendage off of the creature, allowing Jaune to intercept the other grimm's jaws with his sword. The hulking creature backed away from the thrust to its eye, allowing Ruby time to slash at the first again, opening a large cut in its hind leg.

It lunged at her with its jaws, but Jaune kicked its head away while Ruby slipped by him and slashed a hind leg off of the second creature. With this one unable to rush to the first's assistance, Jaune stabbed through the first one's jaws and pulled back, extending its neck. Seeing this, Ruby took the easy shot and decapitated the creature. The sudden loss of resistance caused Jaune to stumble back but instead of falling, like he would have a year ago, he used his momentum to spin around and drive his sword's point through the skull of the second beast.

Rather than kick the beast off of his blade, Jaune waited, looking for more opponents, while the creature dissipated. Ruby stood back to back with him, and the two circled slowly, ready for more. When no more showed up, the made their way back to the watch point.

"Good job, huntsmen," the watchman thanked them.

"We're just students," Ruby insisted. "And it's just our job."

"Why don't you grab a meal and some rest?" Jaune asked. "We're due to be on watch in a little bit, anyway."

The man, who had clearly been on watch throughout the night, thanked them and left for the kitchen area. Ruby and Jaune climbed to the watch point, a walkway along the roof, which gave a good overview of the entire section of the small area the survivors had staked out. Ruby couldn't help but feel a little nervous, and she knew that Jaune was, as well. As much as stories told about creatures that attacked at night, it was the daylight hours that were the most dangerous. During the night, most people could sleep and put the horrors at least a little ways away. It was during the day, with the survivors confronting the devastation and loss, that the negative emotions grew stronger, pulling the grimm like moths to the flame.

"Well, it looks like Weiss' work is paying off," Jaune mentioned, staring off at a point that she couldn't see.

Growling with frustration, Ruby hopped onto the handrail. Now able to see as far as her companion had, she spotted a convoy of four, large trucks approaching on the Soguk Su Road.

"Maybe the supplies will bring everyone's spirits up a little," Jaune suggested. "And we won't have as many grimm to deal with."

"Yeah, maybe they will," Ruby agreed. She didn't believe it for a moment, and she was pretty sure that he didn't either. Still, they had learned to lean on any hope that they could find. The sun continued to rise and activity started to increase in the occupied section; fishing boats left from the makeshift dock and smoke started to rise from several chimneys. Life, or at least something as close to a normal life that could happen, was starting for the day.

Turning to look over the area, Ruby stumbled on the narrow handrail and reached out to grab Jaune's shoulder to catch her balance. Instead of his shoulder, her hand brushed against the side of his face while his had came up, resting against her waist, steadying her.

"Maybe it's better if you don't stand on the rail while keeping watch," he suggested.

"Good point," she conceded, hopping down to the walkway, feeling slightly flustered. "I think you need to spend some time with your razor when you have a chance."

"Oh?" He offered a self-mocking grin. "I guess it's getting close to time for my weekly shave."

Ruby didn't answer, as the feeling of his fledgling beard, light and downy as it had been, seemed so out of phase with his boyish look. She was also thinking about the feeling of his hand, splayed out on her waist to support her. It was a simple, innocent and proper action on his part, but it contributed to some unquiet thoughts she was having...the knowledge that there was more to life than being an incredible huntress.

Ruby was no idiot; even though her mother had vanished when she was very young and her father had never remarried, or even dated, she understood that at some time in her life, she would probably start to look at boys as something other than friends. After all, she grew up in a cabin in the woods, so she saw how the birds and animals tended to pair up every year. Yang hadn't been much help, saying that guys were great because they tended to have a longer reach and posed an interesting challenge when sparing, as well as saying that the urge to pair up was an example of the brain turning off. Ruby hadn't looked forward to her brain turning off, even as she accepted that it eventually would.

However, the interest she had towards Jaune didn't feel dumb.

Maybe it was the suggestion that Nora had made while out on the lake...maybe it was the fact that they had now spent close to a year together, working together and facing some rough times. Maybe it was because he was a friendly person, the first friendly face she had seen at Beacon. For whatever reason, she was getting some uncomfortably comfortable feelings towards him.

A glimmer of black, white and red in the distance suddenly brought her attention to the task at hand.

"Grimm!" She declared, pointing. She was proud that her doubts...and other emotions...hadn't kept her from doing her job.

"Good eyes," he answered, clanging the bell. "It looks like creeps."

"Yep," she agreed with him, keeping a close eye. More and more of the creatures were emerging from the forests. "They're weak, but if many more of them come out, they're going to be a challenge."

Jaune nodded his agreement, sharing Ruby's frustration that they couldn't do anything about the grimm at the moment. The dark creatures formed into a horde, large enough to pose a serious threat to the two students, then started moving towards the settlement. The pack was still far away when footsteps behind the students preceded a small group of survivors, who were carrying rifles.

"The latest relief convoy carried weapons and ammunition," one of the men informed them. "One of us will take the watch post while the rest of us go with you."

"Have any of you fought grimm before?" Jaune asked, now that someone was here to staff the watch post, they were free to deal with the grimm. He scrambled down the ladder and to the ground.

"All of us," another man told him. "We aren't hunters, but we've all shot them before."

"Leave the bigger grimm to us," Ruby told him. The reaper didn't bother with the ladder, vaulting to the ground.

"We'll fight them from a distance," the man told her. "We've done this before. We'll keep them from swarming you."

"Sounds reasonable," Jaune shrugged. "Let's go take care of them."

The students led the way at a brisk walk. There was no need to hurry, as the grimm wouldn't try to escape. As the party continued towards their quarry, another group of survivors, led by Flynt and Neon, joined them.

"So you got the news?" Neon gushed at the two Beaconites. "The latest convoy brought guns, ammunition and tools! The people here are going to be able to defend themselves and start rebuilding! Things are looking up!"

"But we still have to stay chill," Flynt reminded them. "We've got the latest swarm to deal with."

"Did the latest convoy have any sniper rounds?" Ruby asked.

"No," Flynt told her. "They were concentrating on common calibers."

Ruby sighed; while she understood that she was a capable fighter without rounds for her rifle, she felt exposed...less than fully functional...without ammunition for Crescent Rose. But there was no time to complain now, they were getting closer to the grimm, who had clearly spotted them. The dark horde picked up speed, closing rapidly.

"Hold up!" Flynt ordered, stifling Ruby's instinct to rush to meet them. "Riflemen...if you will."

The team stepped back, allowing the newly-armed survivors to unleash a volley on the oncoming grimm. Ruby quickly came to the conclusion that the survivors hadn't been lying about their capabilities. While they weren't huntsmen, they had dealt with grimm before. They took careful aim and fired accurately, hitting far more often than they missed, but they didn't fire rapidly. They were effective against creeps, arguably the weakest of the common grimm, but wouldn't have done well against beowolves or, even worse, ursa.

"Okay, riflemen," Flynt's voice jolted Ruby out of her reverie. "Separate and concentrate on any at a distance. It's time for us to take on the ones that are close."

The leading creatures had closed to fifty meters or so, so the students took the front position. The citizens, already organized into two squads, jogged to either side so that they could fire on any additional grimm without endangering the melee fighters. After sharing a common nod; they had fought enough skirmishes to not need any more instructions...the students stepped forward, using their usual tactics.

Jaune took the lead with Ruby directly behind him. The creeps, not being overly weighed down with brains, simply attacked the nearest target. Jaune braced himself and met the lead creatures, driving them back with his shield. Flynt sent two more sprawling backwards while Neon froze another one's foot to the ground. Ruby, with Jaune acting as her defense, was free to duck back and forth from behind the blonde boy, eliminating the grimm in a whirlwind of slashing metal while the armed citizens cut down the more distant creatures. It didn't last very long.

"Now that some of the citizens are armed, they're not going to need us to be everywhere," Flynt told his team. "Ruby and Jaune, go get a hot meal...and I mean a real one." He looked directly at Jaune. "Don't think I haven't noticed you not eating much. You're not going to do anyone any good if you let yourself waste away."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Ruby offered.

"This goes for you, too," Flynt told her. "The two of you might feel guilty, which is wrong. Even if this was your fault, which it isn't, you aren't doing anyone any good by letting yourselves go. We need you sharp and up-tempo, clear?"

"Clear," Jaune sighed. "But what about the two of you?"

"I've already gotten rest and food," Flynt told him. "I'm on alert while Neon gets some sleep. Now, I'm serious, eat and eat well. After that, clean up a little and chill as much as you can. This is a long gig, not a quick little ditty so I need you to maintain."

"We will," Ruby seized Jaune's arm and pulled him towards the kitchens. Flynt offered a tight nod, but his expression told them that he would be checking on the two. The group, students and armed civilians, made their way back to the occupied section and Ruby found that she was strangely reluctant to release her companion's arm.

"Anything else special come in on the relief convoy?" She asked Flynt, finally letting go of Jaune.

"A very experienced civil engineer, who brought survey and construction equipment," Flynt told them. "She's going to be heading to the reservoir today, to see if it's still sound and how the pipes leading into town weathered the explosion. After that, she'll see about getting a water treatment system working. We can also expect to get more construction equipment in the next few days; maybe enough to get a power distribution system and a sewage treatment system on line."

"That's...good," Jaune murmured. "But it's like Atlas and Mistral are keeping these people at arm's length."

"They are," Flynt told him. "And you know why. The only thing we can do is protect everyone while they try to piece their lives back together."

"But what about their future?" Jaune asked. "Right now, Atlas is willing to support them...and maybe Mistral will, as well. But what happens when the kingdoms start to look at other priorities and BatiKiyisi just isn't important anymore?"

"That's why we have to do our jobs," Neon told him. "We have to give these people security so they can build an infrastructure and defenses, before the kingdoms lose interest. That way, they'll be able to stand on their own."

"And that means not being part of the problem," Flynt added. "You're a good man, doing a hard job, so act like it. Being down is just going to bring in the grimm."

"You know, I always wondered something about the towns," Ruby chimed into the conversation. "Wherever we went, it always seemed like there was a dance, or a party of some sort going on. I thought that people beyond the kingdoms had dances and town-wide parties because they couldn't get scroll signals for entertainment. Now I'm thinking that they do it to keep up their spirits so they don't attract the grimm."

"And the young lady just explained why my weapon is the greatest of all!" Flynt declared, smiling broadly and running a finger along his hat's brim. "This here trumpet can beat the grimm, smack down the bandits AND make everyone feel good afterwards."

To emphasize his point, he played a lively tune while the group trudged along. Maybe it was something to do with his semblance, or maybe the music did something to those near him, but by the time they got back to the watch post, they weren't so much trudging as marching. They were all smiling, thinking of moving forward and fixing the damage. Even Jaune's spirits seemed to rise.

"All right!" Flynt informed them, once they got back to the occupied section of the city. "Neon's due for a nap and the two of you are due for a meal."

"What about you?" Ruby asked.

"I'm meeting with the council again," their leader told her. "You made a good point back there. I'm going to suggest that we form a little band, have a little celebration every evening. Sure, things are rough but maybe a little joy will keep the spirits up a little and cut down on the grimm."

Ruby thought that she would have to be strict with her companion, insisting that he take a full meal and eat it. Maybe it was the fact that what was left of the town was receiving supplies to help them, maybe it was the tune that Flynt played for them, but Jaune actually ate like a tall, broad young man who was putting in strenuous labor should. The grimm even cooperated, not attacking until there were only a few bites of breakfast left. The clanging of another alarm bell prompted the two to gulp the last of their meals while rushing out of the dining building.

Their path took them to a different portion of the border the survivors had established. Here, a girl stood on a high stepladder, staring into the distance and ringing the bell. Another party of armed civilians arrived, even as the girl stopped ringing the bell.

"They're in the ruins," the girl told the group below her. "They're searching around, but they haven't started in this direction."

"What kind of grimm are they?" Jaune asked her.

"I...don't know the names," the girl admitted, looking very embarrassed.

"You did fine," Ruby assured her. "Now, come down and let me take a look."

The girl scrambled down and Ruby was on top of the ladder, fourteen feet above the ground, seconds later.

"They're beowolves," Ruby, looking through Crescent Rose's scope, reported. "But I'm seeing a king taijitu as well."

Ruby and Jaune shared a concerned look, which made the townspeople nervous. Getting a sudden suspicion, Ruby put her eye back to the scope.

"They're all looking this way now," she reported. "Keep feeling nervous!"

"How do we do that?" One of the townsfolk demanded.

"And why?" Another added.

"Negative emotions bring them here!" She pointed out.

"Why do we want the grimm to attack us?" Yet another man asked.

"Because if they attack us, people who are armed and ready for them, they aren't attacking unsuspecting people!" Jaune told the group.

"We should be able to see them from the ground in a little bit," Ruby told everyone, hopping off of the ladder. "When we do, shoot at the beowolves...your bullets won't have much effect on the snake. Jaune and I will deal with it. Now, is everyone staying nervous?"

Everyone, Jaune included, just looked at her.

"These are grimm," Ruby told them. "And the king taijitu will be bulletproof to your rounds."

Suddenly, the townsfolk looked more nervous.

"That's the spirit!" She encouraged them. "But don't run away! If you don't deal with the beowolves, they'll swarm us while we try to deal with the snake!"

Now, Jaune looked very nervous.

"That's it!" She encouraged her fellow student.

"I can see them!" One of the townsfolk shouted, rescuing everyone from receiving further _encouragement_ from the diminutive huntress.

"Okay," Jaune placed is hands on two of the townsfolk's shoulders. "You two take a single target, start from the left and work your way to the center. You two start at the center and work your way to the left. You two start at the center and work your way to the right, and you two start at the right and work your way to the center."

Beowolves were vulnerable to the townsfolk's firearms, even if the beowolves were tougher than creeps and took several hits to eliminate. Ruby had to admit that Jaune's idea of having two riflemen team up on each grimm, in turn, made sense; it was better to eliminate a handful of grimm than injure several. By the time the horde drew near, not only had the beowolves outdistanced the snake, there were only three of them left.

"We've got it from here," Ruby told the townsfolk. "Don't waste your rounds on the king taijitu, but keep your eyes open! Shoot up any more grimm that show up." Sharing a quick nod with her partner, she jumped into action.

She was all out of rounds for Crescent Rose, but she still had her semblance. Bursting into motion, she held her scythe horizontally behind her back and twirled towards the oncoming grimm. The slashing blade hacked a fore paw and hind leg from the lead creature. She then danced back as Jaune rushed forward, shield leading, to send the next creature tumbling back. The third creature lunged at him, but he had his shield up, meeting its claws. The blonde boy dug in his feet as it tried to overbear him, then he suddenly crouched. The beowolf tumbled over his shield and Jaune sprang to his feet, lofting it into the air. Somersaulting through the air with its limbs flailing wildly, it was unable to defend itself. Ruby was ready, decapitating the beast with a quick slash.

By now the second creature was back on the attack. It launched at Jaune again but the student was ready; covering his left side with his shield while he chopped off its left foreleg with his sword. Standing the creature up, he plunged the blade deep into its chest cavity. By the time Ruby could come to his assistance, it was already dissipating. Ruby quickly finished off the first grimm and stood next to Jaune, awaiting the giant snake. It wasn't a long wait.

The creature led with its white head...but a blast of sound and a wave of sound waves sent it sprawling backwards. Ruby and Jaune risked a quick glance backwards and noted that Flynt had arrived onto the scene and was tying up half of the large grimm. The relief was temporary, as the black head lunged at the two. Jaune met it with his shield and was driven backwards, even though he kept on his feet. Ruby slashed at its neck, but the thick scales turned her blade.

Her attack did, however, gain the creature's attention. It suddenly turned and lunged at her. Ruby jumped to the side, close to Jaune and the creature began to coil around the two. Now in serious danger, Ruby jumped, springing off of the creatures side and over the top of its body, escaping the trap before it could close in and constrict. Jaune was just behind her, but didn't have her agility. He rolled over the creatures top loop and sprawled onto the ground. The head lashed at him, but he managed to roll away at the last second. Ruby saw her chance.

The grimm's mouth was still agape when it lifted from the ground, tracking her companion. She slashed into the open maw; the tip of her scythe drove through the bottom of the creature's mouth and pinned it to the ground.

"Jaune!" She yelled, holding their opponent, momentarily, immobilized.

Jaune needed no further prompting. The boy wasn't up to performing a back-spring to his feet, but he could tuck, roll and recover as well as anyone. Regaining his feet, he rushed forward and drove the point of his blade into the king taijitu's eye. Ruby saw a distortion of white light travel down his arm, along the blade, and into the grimm as Jaune poured an aura burst into their attacker.

"Get clear!" He shouted, kicking off from the creature's skull and recovering his weapon.

Ruby did the same, kicking her scythe's handle to pull the blade free of both Remnant and grimm. Activating her semblance, she scooped Jaune up and swept him clear of the rapidly expanding snake head. When it detonated, she released and tucked in behind him. One fang glanced off of his shield while the rest buried themselves, harmlessly, into the ground.

"I'm letting the other head go!" Flynt yelled. Since he wasn't capable of blowing the trumpet and speaking at the same time, he did just as he claimed he was doing. The white head was stunned and sluggish at it turned towards its tormentors.

"I have an idea!" Jaune hissed at Ruby. "Let me try to pin it for you."

Trusting her companion to know what he was doing, she stepped back and to the side as the grimm made an awkward lunge at him. Jaune took a page from her book, stabbing the creature through the lower jaw, pinning it to the ground while he kept his shield between himself and the upper fangs.

"Ruby!" He shouted.

The younger teen didn't need any encouragement. She twirled Crescent Rose and closed in slowly. It looked like a disc saw cutting through a log; while she couldn't drive completely through the scales with one slash, her constant cutting motion worked through its defenses, digging deeper and deeper. Between the battering it had taken from Flynt's attacks, having its other half exploded and being held by the increasingly strong student, it wasn't able to shake free as she decapitated the monster. Flynt rejoined them, accompanied by a round of cheers from the armed townsfolk.

"That was some impressive work," their leader told them. "Did the two of you manage to eat?"

"Yeah," Ruby told him. "And Jaune ate a full meal!"

"How about you?" He gave her a hard look.

"As much as I could hold," she assured him. "But we didn't get a chance to clean up."

"Do that now," he instructed. "This skirmish should take care of the grimm in the area...at least for now. We'll have some down time."

Ruby and Jaune did as ordered; they retrieved their shower kits from their backpacks and went next door to the building where they slept. This building was devoted to taking care of basic hygiene. The two students joined a line of dirty townsfolk, took buckets of water from a large kettle that was kept simmering over a smoldering flame and each took a towel from a pile provided. After that, they each found one of the alcoves that were screened off with blankets and curtains, giving everyone privacy while they bathed.

Ruby rolled her eyes, remembering how she had taken the showers at Beacon for granted. Disrobing and hanging up her clothes, she sponged herself down, then scrubbed at her body. What she wouldn't give for a proper shower or, better yet, a bath. She rinsed the soap out of her hair and off of her body and rubbed herself down with a rough towel. She really missed her blow dryer, while she wasn't vain...or at least she didn't think she was, she was tired of either putting up with stringy hair or spending so much time brushing it out. She chided herself while pulling her clothes back on; she should be thankful to be able to bathe in peace in a situation like this. Still, she was looking forward to getting back to one of the kingdoms.

Finishing getting dressed, she vacated her alcove, which was quickly claimed by someone else. She dropped her bucket and used towel in the appropriate piles, then left the building to note that Jaune was already done. The blonde boy was just pulling on his shirt. Ruby noted that the past year's intense activity was having an effect on him; his shoulders and arms were lined with wiry muscles.

"I think the idea is that you get dressed in your alcove," she teased him just a little.

"Other people were waiting," he pointed out, now pulling on his hoodie. "Socially, it's perfectly acceptable, if a little embarrassing, to be shirtless in public."

Ruby managed to keep from pointing out that he didn't have anything to be embarrassed about. Instead, she waited while he pulled on his armor then walked with him to their quarters, to drop off their shower kits. With no grimm attacks, they were about to pitch in and help one of the work crews that was forming a defensive wall out of rubble, but Flynt interrupted them again.

"This is Mrs. Klempner," their leader told them, introducing a middle-aged woman standing with three townsfolk. "She's a civil engineer from Atlas who came in with the latest convoy. These three men used to work on the water system. I'm sending the two of you to escort them to the town reservoir, so they can see about getting the water system working again."

"You'll be fine here without us?" Ruby asked, before she could choke back the question. Flynt wasn't about to risk the settlement.

"We've got dust rounds to back up the fighters now," he offered her an indulgent smile. "We'll be good without the two of you for a few hours."

"Fine, rub it in," she grumbled.

"You're concerned," Flynt put a conciliatory hand on her shoulder. "I can dig it. Don't be shy about checking on people but we're chill for right now." His face got very serious. "This is vital. If there's trouble, get the civilians back safely, we can always try again." He leaned in close, "if something happens to the engineer, Atlas might not send additional help, no matter what Weiss tries to arrange."

Jaune and Ruby both nodded their agreement and introduced themselves to their charges. Soon, they were piled onto an all-terrain vehicle for what would have ordinarily been a short drive. However, they were forced to drive around the ruins of the city and edge their way along primitive tracks that local farmers once, and still, used horse-drawn wagons to bring produce into the town. Along the way, they checked on the locals. They found that while some farms had been overrun by the grimm, most continued as before the bombing. While life outside the kingdoms could be rough, life between the towns was even harsher. Those who could not control emotions and avoid the grimm did not last very long.

Eventually, they reached the reservoir, some twenty-two kilometers from BatiKiyisi's occupied section. At this point, things promptly flew over both Jaune and Ruby's heads. They both understood the visual inspection for obvious faults in the dam's structure. They somewhat understood Mrs. Klempner's explanation of 'explosions shadow' and why the dam appeared to be in good shape. It was when the engineer produced what she called an ultrasonic scanner and started to follow the pipeline route back towards the remains of BatiKiyisi that Ruby felt her eyes start to glaze over. A quick look at her companion showed that he was just as confused as she was. While the locals understood the route of the pipeline, they were also more than a little dazed with the scanning equipment.

The trip back, following the buried pipeline, was slower than the trip out. Somewhat more than halfway back to the town, Mrs. Klempner called a halt, claiming that the pipeline had been damaged at this point. She then pulled up some topographical maps on her scroll and started to map out routes from their current location to the occupied section of the city. At first, Ruby was nervous about being out and exposed, with people contemplating difficult work needed to get the water flowing to the city. Then she realized that an engineer with a technical problem was every bit as happy as she was in a weapons shop.

Any grimm in the area were probably repelled.

It only took a few minutes before the engineer made some decisions and, consulting with the townsfolk, went back along her path to a point that she claimed provided fairly easy access to the pipeline. She marked the area and, marking a proposed route on her scroll, followed it, as best she could, with the all-terrain vehicle. Her route led down a draw and she had to leave the vehicle several times to mark her proposed route on the ground. Ruby was getting very bored with the process; as she wasn't that interested in gradients and soil composition, when she was interrupted by a sound she didn't think she would hear for several more weeks.

Her scroll rang.

"Yeah, what?" She answered the unknown caller, forgetting proper etiquette in her eagerness to communicate like she was used to doing.

"Gee, Ruby, nice to hear from you, too," Flynt's sarcastic voice sounded over the device. "Just thought I'd call to let you know that Schnee's dirigible is close enough to give us local voice. There won't be any more ringing bells to call alerts. Now, what's your situation?"

"At this rate, we'll be back in another three hours or so," Ruby answered. "I'll admit that I don't know what the engineer is doing, but I guess she knows her business."

"Okay, that will work," Flynt told her.

"What's up?" She asked. "Why are you concerned about how long it will take us to get back?"

"You might have a pleasant surprise when you get here," Flynt now sounded a little smug. "Don't want to say more, or I'll spoil it for you."

"Just a hint?" She pestered him.

"No!" He said, his voice firm. "Finish your mission and we'll see you when you get in."

For Ruby, the only thing worse than boredom was boredom with the promise of something nice after the boredom. If you were going to face more boredom after the boredom; boredom wasn't so bad. If there was something to look forward to after the boredom, boredom became...boring. Still, there was nothing to do but to try to keep alert as the engineer stopped...frequently...and took altitude and distance measurements. Finally, as the sun was dropping to the west, they made it back to BatiKiyisi, where a call to Flynt arranged for them to meet at the dining hall.

For some reason, the engineer abstained from a meal, preferring to review plans of the city water system. She wanted to prepare plans for making use of the existing infrastructure from the new feed. Shrugging her shoulders; Ruby had learned to grab the essentials when they were available, she accompanied Jaune to the dining hall. There, they got the pleasant surprised that had been promised.

"Neptune! Sage! Scarlet!" Ruby rushed forward to impulsively embrace the three Haven students. "How did you get here?"

"We came in on the airship that's going to take General Ironwood back to Mistral," the blue-haired boy told her. "Headmaster Lionheart is shifting personnel. He's sending students here, to guard the town while it rebuilds, while he sends huntsmen to Kuchinashi."

"We've heard some rumors," Ruby noted, while Jaune exchanged a fist-bump with Neptune and then a wrist-clasp with the two other newcomers. "There's supposed to be a big battle brewing down there."

"It might be going on right now," Neptune told her. "Some of the grimm moving in are...well...something more than what Lionheart wants students to be dealing with."

"But my father is down there!" Ruby protested.

"I know," Neptune sighed. "The headmaster said, before he left that he didn't know if he could get the huntsmen and the heavy weapons relocated in time to halt the attack. If the grimm attack before Kuchinashi...what forces that are there may wind up in a running retreat back to Mistral City itself."

"I've got to get there!" Ruby suddenly looked panicked.

"You might need this, first," Neptune offered her a large box.

Frowning slightly, Ruby opened it, only for her eyes to fly wide.

"Rounds for Crescent Rose!" She gasped, digging through the box. She looked like a child, cooing over the fire, lightning and gravity rounds.

"Weiss had these made as soon as she reached Mistral," Neptune told her, while Jaune looked on with a fond, tolerant smile. Sage and Scarlet looked somewhat bemused at the display. "Your friends in the city made sure that they were on the ship that came to pick up General Ironwood."

"Tell her the second part of the surprise!" Neon insisted, watching the reunions next to Flynt.

"Second part?" Ruby asked.

"The airship that brought us here is getting ready to take General Ironwood back," Neon told them. "It will leave in the morning and can take you and Jaune back to the kingdom."

"You've been on the road a long time," Flynt added. "Now that we have some backup, we can get the two of you back to Mistral. You're overdue some recovery time and Ruby will be with her sister and close to her father."

Ruby's wide smile vanished when she caught sight of Jaune's troubled expression.

"What's wrong," she asked him. "Don't you want to go back to Mistral?"

"Of course," Jaune replied. "But..."

"But?" She prompted him, when he hesitated.

"The fight in Kuchinashi, it's either taking place right now, or will be in a couple of hours." He pointed out. "Even if we leave right now, the whole thing is going to be decided before we get there."

Ruby could only look at him, wondering what he was getting at.

"And according to Neptune, Sage and Scarlet, the grimm that are moving down there are massive, and the numbers of White Fang are huge!"

"So you're scared to go back?" Ruby demanded.

"Maybe," he looked at his feet. "It's just...even if we get there in time, what can I do? On the other hand, there are people in trouble, right here. I can do some good here, I can protect them from the grimm while they rebuild. I can make a difference where I am."

"But Team SSSN is here now, they can take over for us," Ruby pointed out.

"We were short handed before they came here, and they'll be short handed if we leave," he countered. "If I stay here, that's just one more fighter to protect people, so maybe things aren't quite as desperate. I know you want to see your father and your sister, so I'll catch up to you later. I'm sorry, but I just can't leave here, not like this."

For a few minutes, Ruby could only look at him, an expression of betrayal on her face. Slowly, the expression changed to something that Jaune couldn't read.

"Ruby...?" He asked.

"No!" She snapped. "We don't turn our backs on each other! We started this mission at my doorstep back on Patch, and it isn't over yet. You're right! We're making a difference here! This is where I'm needed...where we're needed!"

"But your family..." Jaune protested.

"Are hunters!" She told him. "We protect the innocent! Back at Beacon, I told you that we had to put our teams first; well, now we're hunters and that means we have to put the innocents first. More students are on the way and when enough get here to guard the town, we'll go back to Mistral, together. Until then, BatiKiyisi is our mission and we stick together while guarding it."

A tear traced down her cheek, but she was able to meet everyone's eyes, "Yang and dad will just have to understand that as much as I love them, my place is here for now."

When Jaune's hand rested on her shoulder, a gesture of comfort and support, she knew that she had made the right choice.

* * *

 _A/N: Again, and as always, huge thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._


	34. Chapter 34

"Now arriving in Kuchinashi."

The speaker's polite, pleasant, yet somehow soulless voice jolted Weiss out of her doze. While it wasn't exactly restful sleep, it was the closest thing she had managed in the last couple of days. Had she chosen to ride in one of the passenger compartments, she might have actually slept. However, she had decided to take her duties as a dust guard seriously, and had taken the trip in one of the freight cars. Although the chances of anyone stealing dust from a high-speed train was minuscule...she chose to sacrifice some comfort. She felt the train slowing and, despite the guilt from the last couple of days, she felt excited.

Shoving her growing anticipation to the back of her mind, she assumed a fighting stance and drew Myrtenaster. While she was certain that she would be met by Mistralean representatives, there was an off chance that either the White Fang or common bandits would attempt to seize the dust. If that's what opened the cargo door, they wouldn't surprise a young woman...they'd open to door to steel and skill. Somewhat of a letdown, the door opened to reveal a Mistralean NCO with two soldiers. After a terse nod, the sergeant held up his scroll. Weiss followed suit and the two devices confirmed that both parties were where they were supposed to be.

"This shipment must be vital," the senior soldier noted. "If a Schnee herself is confirming that it is delivered safely."

"I happened to be in the area," she informed him. "Is it sergeant?"

"It is," he nodded, scanning the boxes with his scroll.

"I escorted the dust and I intend to assist in the defense effort."

"Then you'll report to the deputy commander," he told her, holding up his scroll again. Weiss followed his action and received the confirmation that all of the dust under her care had been delivered. "We'll take care of the dust from here."

Weiss nodded, hoisted her pack onto her back and strode out of the car. At the station, she noted that very few people disembarked from the train, and most of them wore soldiers' uniforms. On the other hand, it looked like the train would be packed to beyond capacity with civilians leaving the city. Following her scroll's guidance, she made her way away from the train station and towards the military facilities. During the walk, the city seemed both nervous and empty; there were only a handful of civilians on the streets and they were hurrying about, not taking their time to talk or conduct business. With a growing sense of dread for what was about to occur, Weiss found the command building.

"We're not taking on any more students!" A familiar voice, using a familiarly curt tone, informed her, when she finally found the proper office to report to.

"I escorted a load of dust," Weiss answered, in her most confident voice. "It seemed to make more sense to send a civilian back, rather than me."

"Weiss?" Winter's face rose from the reports and plans she had been studying. "What are you doing here?"

"It is also good to see you," Weiss allowed a touch of sarcasm to enter her reply.

"This is no joking matter!" Winter rose and stalked around her desk. "We have goliaths, White Fang and Cinder Fall closing on this city! This is no place for students!"

"I respectfully disagree," Weiss informed her sister. "You need everyone who can tell one end of a weapon from another."

"You..." Winter's face was taunt with fatigue, anger and frustration as she rose her hand. Those eyes flew open with shock when her sister blocked the slap.

"I grow weary of the method you and father use to express displeasure with an opposing opinion!" The younger Schnee snapped at her sister. "Now, is there some reason you chose to strike me, is this the way that the Mistralean Military receives its new hires, or is the oncoming enemy so weak that you feel it's sporting to fight your own?"

"My reaction was excessive, sister," Winter sighed heavily and pointed Weiss to a chair. "But my motivations and shock were well-founded. This city is doomed to fall. The only action we can perform is to hold the White Fang and grimm out long enough to evacuate as many of the civilians as we can...and it won't be enough."

"But I thought that you defeated a White Fang attack!" Weiss protested.

"We did," Winter shrugged, taking her own chair. "But we sustained horrific losses in doing so, and the outer wall was breached."

"Didn't the White Fang also take losses?" Weiss demanded. "Surely you're in a stronger position now that you were before the first attack!"

"No," the abrupt shake of the older siblings head told the younger just how fatigued she was. "Weiss, maybe you didn't understand when I told you that there are goliaths converging upon this city. I know you know what a goliath is, but the sheer power these grimm possess is impossible to appreciate until you face one in close proximity. You are incapable of harming one of these beasts...I am incapable of harming one of these beasts. It takes very heavy weapons or a team of experienced hunters to eliminate each one; and in the later case, several hunters fall for each such grimm defeated. We cannot hold Kuchinashi."

"So what are you doing here?"

"We seek to accomplish two things," Winter returned to her feet and placed her hands behind her back. "We will evacuate as many people as we can and we will delay the enemy here for as long as possible. Kuchinashi is doomed, but the necessary heavy weapons will be able to reach Mistral City itself. We will take losses, but they won't be fatal to the kingdom."

Now, the older sister caught her younger sister in a piercing glare. "That is why you will be on the next train out of this city! All those who fight here have a good chance of falling in battle! I will not risk my sister in this hopeless struggle!"

"And I'm supposed to risk mine?" Weiss snapped.

"You don't have the right to make that decision! Besides, you are the Schnee heiress! Are you going to leave the company, the family legacy, to Whitley?"

"Our mother has come out of her drunkenness," Weiss pointed out.

"So I have heard," Winter allowed a half-smile, the gentlest of her expressions, to show on her face for a few moments. "However, that makes it all the more vital that you survive. She must not come out of her fog just to learn that both of her daughters have fallen in a far land!"

"I will not return home and tell mother that her oldest daughter is dead!" Weiss snarled.

"So will you leave it to Kline to inform her that both of her daughters are?" Winter snarled back. "One Schnee falling to defend Mistral is enough! Go home, operate the Schnee dust company and raise a family! This is why I am serving, so you can maintain the family with the honor and integrity of our grandfather!"

"That very honor and integrity prompts me to stay!" Weiss retorted. "What would our grandfather say if his granddaughter left when she could make a difference."

"I do not presume to know what our grandfather would have said," Winter's voice was cold...even for Winter. "But our father will be rubbing his hands in delighted anticipation. I am a soldier, Weiss. You are not; at least not yet. It is my duty to fight and perhaps die to defend this city. Your duty, at least for the moment, is as the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company."

"My duty is to restore the Schnee name!" Weiss demanded. "And that is not going to be done by fleeing from those who need my help!" Before Winter could speak, Weiss rushed on. "No, I'm not a fully trained huntress at this time, but I am considerably stronger than the typical soldier standing guard on the walls! I'm also a great deal more agile, so I am much more capable of extracting myself from a dangerous situation! If it comes to distracting the attacking grimm and White Fang, I am more capable than the forces you have in play right now."

"Your insolence..." Winter's rebuke was cut off by a chime from her scroll, followed momentarily by a loud siren.

"That's the alarm," Winter snapped at her sister and looking at her scroll. "The goliaths are approaching the south wall! Get to the train station and get out of here as soon as you can! I have no time to argue!"

The military woman didn't look to confirm that her sister had obeyed her instructions; she sprinted from the building. As the Headquarters Building was close to the south wall, it was faster for her to simply run there, as opposed to taking some form of transportation. Taiyang and Raven were awaiting her at the point that had been breached during the first White Fang attack.

"What's the status?" Winter demanded, vaulting onto the low wall that had been constructed out of rubble.

"See for yourself," Raven told her. "The goliaths are about two klicks out, heading this way."

"There are no other grimm, or White Fang visible," Taiyang added. "I think the other side is going to let the goliaths break through the wall before they expose their more vulnerable assets."

"Damn!" Winter swore, after looking through binoculars and confirming the information. "They'll be here in roughly ten minutes!"

She was interrupted when the Mistralean commander activated the mass call feature on his scroll. "All forces, the attack has arrived! All parties are to delay and distract the goliaths...as previously instructed. Do not fire upon the large grimm if smaller grimm, or White Fang, are present. Local commanders, you are to hold your positions until in danger of being cut off or overrun. Hold the enemy for as long as possible but do not sacrifice your troops needlessly! The formal command structure may be compromised shortly, but you have all been briefed to act independently. It's been an honor to serve with you, out!"

"I am at the goliath's target point," Winter reported. "We will hold them here for as long as possible."

"Very well," his voice replied, this time on a single channel. "I will stay at the command post and keep you appraised if there are attacks on the city's other sections. Good luck."

"And yourself," Winter replied. She tapped at her scroll's controls. "Fire support, fire concentration alpha two, flame!"

"Alpha two, flame, roger," a voice replied. Moments later, dull booms sounded from back in the city, followed by the rush of unseen objects flying overhead.

Out on the plane, small explosions, which quickly burst into flame, appeared between the grimm and the breach. The fire support teams continued to shoot, widening the wall of flames. The grimm approached the flame and, to Winter's growing hope, turned aside.

"Fire support, extend wall to the west," she ordered.

"Extend wall to the west, roger," the reply sounded.

More burst of flames appeared, growing the wall of fire in the direction the goliaths were traveling. Winter bit her lower lip; while the creatures didn't seem to move fast, every stride from their long legs represented a significant distance, meaning that they moved much faster than they appeared to. Still the flames extended slightly faster that the grimm were moving. Unfortunately, the grimm were not foolish; the lead creature suddenly turned and simply plowed through the fire. There were trumpets of anger and pain, but the grimm were clearly not wounded seriously.

"Well, if it's of any consolation, I couldn't come up with a better idea," Raven shrugged. "Do we do this like we planned?"

"Draw their attention until they reach the weak point," Winter confirmed. "Then get behind the wall and inflict whatever pain we can while they try to break through."

The Schnee matched words with deeds, summoning a flock of small, white, glowing nevermores and sending them flying towards the lead goliath. The birds did not inflict any serious harm on the grimm, but the creature quickly set its course directly towards the weak point in the wall.

"Congratulations," Raven sneered.

"Get behind the wall," Winter instructed them. "We don't all have to be vulnerable in order to bring them to the desired p...Weiss!"

The officer was shocked to silence when her sister suddenly joined the small party on the temporary wall.

"I told you to leave!" Winter snapped at the younger sister.

"I'll do it when we get the civilians evacuated," Weiss snapped back at her. Before anyone could restrain her, the younger girl jumped and landed outside of the city walls.

"Weiss get back here!" Winter snarled, even as Weiss executed a graceful, double-pirouette and stabbed her rapier into the ground. A large snowflake glyph appeared in the earth and from it, a giant, glowing suit of armor emerged. The summoned creature strode purposefully towards the oncoming goliaths.

"She's a Schnee, alright," Taiyang told Winter. "In skill, stubbornness and attitude!"

"Shut up and cover her!" Winter snapped. Now she summoned a series of pale beowolves, which sprang from the wall and rushed after the spectral knight.

Sharing a look and a shrug, Raven and Taiyang jumped off of the wall and took up positions close to the younger Schnee. Winter's instructions proved timely, as White Fang members appeared in the distance and started to fire upon both the student and the giant armor. Raven swatted away one of the dust rounds with her blade while Taiyang deflected two with his forearms. On the undamaged wall, Mistralean soldiers opened up on the hostile faunas. Soon, a major firefight developed around the breach.

Although the suit of armor was much larger than even a big man, it was dwarfed by the oncoming goliaths. The spectral knight rushed forward and delivered a powerful, two-handed swing with its great-sword. The grimm twisted its head and caught the blow on a tusk. Ivory flew with a crack that was audible over the firefight. Another twist of its head smashed the goliath's other tusk against the knight, staggering it back. Taiyang noted that Weiss flinched when her knight received the blow.

"We need to get you to cover," the teacher told the teen, blocking yet another dust round. This one coated his arm with ice, but he easily smashed it off.

"No," Weiss gasped. "I need to keep the knight in sight to control it!"

"It's always something," Raven grumbled, deflecting another shot.

Three pale beowolves rushed the lead goliath, tearing at its legs with no effect that the observers could note. One of the trailing grimm came up and crushed a beowolf underfoot, while the lead beast wrapped one of the summoned creatures in its trunk and threw it over the wall. The last beowolf fell to a swipe of the second goliath's tusk, but the beowolf pack had fulfilled its purpose; the knight was back on its feet. Winter summoned additional beowolves as the knight closed in again.

This time, the knight executed an almost Weiss-like pirouette at the last moment, spinning away from a trunk-swat and delivering a devastating strike to the damaged tusk. The ivory appendage broke, prompting a scream of pain and rage from the lead grimm. The knight didn't pause, spinning again to avoid a swipe of the next goliath's trunk. Continuing its spin, the knight slashed, cutting deep into the first goliath's left, rear leg. Again, the grimm roared in pain and rage. However, the knight did not escape this time.

The second goliath seized it in its trunk and drove it towards the first. The lead grimm turned its head and lunged, driving its broken tusk through the spectral knight. The knight bled light through the wound and struggled weakly before dissolving. Weiss shrieked in pain and despair, clutching her head with one hand and her heart with the other, and collapsed.

"Get her clear!" Winter snapped at the two, former teammates. The elder Schnee summoned additional beowolves and sent them at the grimm.

"What happened to her?" Taiyang demanded, scooping the younger girl up and scrambling over the rubble wall.

"She was still connected to it when it was destroyed," Winter yelled back. "It creates a feedback!"

"But it doesn't affect you when your creatures get destroyed," Raven protested.

"These are lesser creations, and I know when to let them act on their own," Winter informed her. "It is unpleasant, but not debilitating! Weiss went through something far worse!"

Taiyang was forced to agree with Winter; Weiss was stunned. While her eyes were open, she appeared to be unable to control her limbs. Even for a fairly large, fit man like Taiyang, carrying even a small, limp form up and over a rubble wall wasn't easy. He risked a look over his shoulder when he reached the top and noted that the goliaths were right on top of him. Winter and Raven were slashing at the lead creatures front legs, attacking and retreating while a small pack of Winter's beowolves attempted to distract the second goliath in line. The two huntresses were successful, forcing their target to defend itself, but the second grimm ignored its attackers and crashed into the rubble wall.

The rocks under Taiyang's feet, solid and stable a moment ago, became loose and shifting. He stumbled on the unstable structure, nearly dropping his cargo. The grimm struck the pile again and the debris became almost a liquid. Taiyang could only curl himself around the girl as he tumbled with the boulders, dirt and broken masonry that he had been standing upon moments ago. Perhaps spurred by the danger, Weiss regained her wits, if not her coordination. She screamed as the shifting rubble pinned Taiyang's legs.

Perhaps Winter's summoned creatures slowed the massive beast, as there was a pause before the next blow. Taiyang had mostly freed himself from the rubble; and Weiss had regained enough control of her body to lurch to her knees, when another massive blow struck the pile. This time, the goliath forced its way through the wall, sending debris flying. Both Taiyang and Weiss shouted in dismay as they were pelted with rocks. Both were pinned by smaller stones and unable to move. They could only struggle to free themselves and then look, in a sort of fatalistic fascination, as the goliath bulled its way through, widening the gap it had just created. Catching sight of the helpless humans, the gigantic creature extended its trunk towards Weiss. Weiss was pinned from the chest down but she refused to simply quit.

She couldn't reach her rapier but she continued to struggle, trying desperately to free herself even as the massive, dark appendage loomed over her. But then, with a loud pop of displaced air, Ron was standing directly above her.

Weiss didn't know if she or the young man was the more confused, but the confusion didn't last long. The goliath's trunk wrapped around the young man, pulling him away while Rufus jumped from his shoulder to land next to her and start digging. Belying his small stature, the naked mole rat sent even large rocks flying as he struggled to free her. Weiss knew it wouldn't be fast enough, but she continued to struggle to free herself...but then paused in amazement.

Ron was somehow holding the trunk at bay. The boy was engulfed in a blue, somewhat simian-shaped nimbus and his eyes seemed to glow...yellow. Angered at the resistance, the goliath brought a foot down onto the young man. Yet, somehow, Ron was able to hold off the trunk with one hand and stop the foot with the other! It was impossible! Even if he were strong enough to hold the giant grimm at bay, the great weight pressing down on him should have driven him into the ground...yet it didn't! With a roar of a thousand, shrieking monkeys, Ron threw back the grimm, sending it staggering away.

By now, Rufus had loosened the debris around her to the point that she was able to struggle free.

"Rufus, free Taiyang!" She pointed the rodent towards the struggling teacher and drew her rapier. For a moment, she wondered if the rat would understand, since he and Taiyang had never been properly introduced, but she decided that she had more important things to worry about. Despite the fact that she still felt dizzy, she ran to Ron's side.

"What's the sitch?" He asked her, as the grimm regained its balance and stalked towards them.

"That goliath just broke into town," Weiss told him. "There are four more outside the wall and the city hasn't been evacuated!"

"So we kill it?" He asked, drawing his tonfa.

"Impossible," she snapped back. "It takes either a team of hunters or heavy weapons to harm one of these things."

"I take it we don't have either of those," Ron dodged a tusk-sweep while making his query.

"Good guess." She also skipped out of the path of the strike.

"So what do we do?" He asked. He struck one of the massive legs with his weapon and although the creature roared in response, Weiss couldn't note any damage.

"We keep them busy while the citizens get to safety," she told him.

"Distraction is my middle name," he assured her. He darted forward, pounding on his target leg again, and positioned himself underneath the large creature.

The grimm was unable to locate him exactly and kept sweeping the area under itself with its trunk. Ron skipped over the appendage whenever it threatened to strike him and, keeping moving, alternated striking either the same leg or the trunk itself. Shaking her head at his gumption, Weiss decided to open another front on the creature. Despite the fact that she still felt disoriented, she formed a series of glyphs and jumped from one to another until she was able to jump on the creature's back. Running forward to its head, she pirouetted and stabbed down with all of her strength. Her best shot only managed to sink the weapon a couple of inches into the grimm's bony covering.

Down on the ground, Ron danced out from under the creature and fired the grapple from his tonfa, catching one of the grimm's tusks. He never knew if the goliath thrashed its head in an effort to untangle his grapple, or to dislodge Weiss. While Weiss quickly formed a dark glyph to give her traction on the beast's head, Ron was pulled into the air. Despite the number of times he had used a grapple, he had never been all that graceful at it. He had the basics down, and was able to swing in a wide arc that would wind up with him landing on top of the grimm. However, his balance wasn't great and he flailed his arms in a desperate, futile effort to land on his feet. Instead, he flipped over too far, landing on his back and forcing Weiss to sidestep in order to avoid him. One pinwheeling arm, boosted by his Mystical Monkey Power, struck Myrtenaster like a hammer striking a nail.

Weiss didn't hesitate when she saw her rapier forced deep into the goliath's skull. She jumped forward, grabbed the hilt and thumbed the chamber to select fire dust. Conscious of the fact that the goliath's trunk was sweeping towards her, she unleashed a gout of fire into the grimm. The creature didn't even have a chance to express pain; flames shot from its eyes and it slumped to the ground.

"We did it!" Weiss pulled her rapier from the dissipating beast. "We actually defeated a goliath!"

"But there's more outside," Taiyang pointed out, trotting up to them. "I believe that this little fellow goes with you." Rufus hopped off of the teacher's shoulder and onto Ron's.

"I've heard that both of my daughters, and several of their friends met someone...unusual," Taiyang continued, looking at Ron. "You must be him, but I think that introductions will have to wait."

Not pausing for a response, Taiyang turned and rushed towards the gap in the wall. After a quick glance between them, Ron and Weiss rushed after him. Weiss fought down her disorientation, which was now turning into nausea, and followed Ron through the gap. She quickly saw that the original goliath, the one that had withstood the attacks from her summoned knight and the cuts from both Raven and Winter, was staggering away from the city, clearly wounded. However, there were three more creatures ready for action.

Raven and Winter were wounded and exhausted. They continued to distract the creatures; tumbling and slashing at their legs, but they weren't inflicting any appreciable damage. Weiss decided that the only reason the two women hadn't already been killed was that the large grimm tended to get in each others' way when trying to attack their agile opponents...but the two were about worn out. However, as soon as she and her companions ran through the gap, the grimm became wary, slowly backing away from them.

"That's right, we killed your buddy!" Ron taunted them, standing as tall as he could and striding confidently towards the towering creatures. "And we have plenty more for you!"

Now the goliaths looked frightened, backing away even faster.

"I guess you've never faced the ultimate monkey master, have you?" Now the blonde boy's tone was arrogant and he strutted forward. "That's right, I beat an interplanetary invasion, back on Earth, so you think that a bunch of elephants gone goth are going to slow me down? I don't think so!"

Rufus managed a face-palm before whispering into Ron's ear.

"What?" The boy addressed his small friend. "That can't be! It's the Mystical Monkey Power, they recognize it!"

In response, Rufus crossed his arms over his chest and glared back, tapping a foot impatiently.

"Okay, fine!" Ron relented. "We'll prove it!"

He held up a hand for Rufus to climb onto then extended that arm to the goliaths, who were still edging away. The rodent politely cleared his throat, placed his thumbs...if he had thumbs...in his ears...assuming he had ears...and blew a raspberry towards the grimm.

Trumpeting in terror, the goliaths turned tail and stampeded back the way they had come. A cheer broke out on the walls while both Winter and Raven slumped in exhausted relief. Despite her growing vertigo, Weiss found herself sighing with relief while Taiyang laughed with sheer joy. This feeling of happiness and reprieve missed one person.

"So it was you all along," Ron was visibly deflated as he addressed the beaming Rufus.

"Goliaths are afraid of rodents?" Raven murmured, dumbfounded.

"Perhaps only hairless rodents," Winter pointed out.

"Naked!" Rufus insisted, directing an offended expression at the officer.

"I don't really care," Taiyang informed both of them. "The fact that they're leaving is good enough for me!"

"But...the Mystical Monkey Power is cool," Ron whined, poking at the ground with one foot. "It stopped the Lowardians...I'm sure it would have stopped them."

Rufus simply harrumphed at him.

"I agree with Taiyang," Winter announced. "Not only are they retreating, it appears that they are stampeding directly towards where the White Fang were massing for an assault."

Looking in the referenced direction, Weiss could make out distorted figures of people in White Fang uniforms in the distance, trying to scramble out of the goliaths' path. Suddenly, the world seemed to tip onto its side and she dropped to a knee to keep from falling.

"Weiss!" She heard her sister's voice, but it was so difficult to keep her eyes open. A strong hand grabbed her shoulder.

"She took a hard shot back inside the town!" Taiyang's voice announced. Weiss recognized the hand that was now supporting her belonged to him. "She needs help and we need to act! If we move fast, we can save Kuchinashi!"

"But..." Winter sounded much less sure of herself than she usually did.

"Call for a medivac," Raven instructed her. "Let them take care of your sister. Tai's right, if we move fast, we can break up this assault."

"Right," Winter's voice was decisive again, it was a shame Weiss couldn't focus her eyes on her sister.

"We need an immediate medical evacuation at the temporary wall," Winter snapped. Weiss decided that she must be speaking into her scroll. "The goliaths are retreating! All personnel on the walls, concentrate fire on the White Fang and any other grimm! I need the reaction force here, and a spotter on the wall, now! We're going to take the fight to them!"

"I can get Weiss out of here!" Ron offered.

"Whomever you are, I need you with me," Winter coldly told the man, blocking another round with her saber. "Those goliaths may rally."

"Ron...how did you..." Weiss tried to ask her friend how he came to be there, but speaking was so incredibly difficult.

"Weiss, stay with us," Winter insisted. "Stay alert."

"So...tired," Weiss answered. It was the truth. She was fatigued in a way that she had never felt before. She only felt slightly curious when footsteps sounded all around her.

"Get ready to move!" Winter's voice sounded. "Where is the medivac?"

"Right here!" Another voice answered.

"There's your casualty!" Winter's voice snapped. "Possible concussion, possible internal injuries and you need to get her out of here!"

Gentle but firm hands lifted her onto what she knew had to be a stretcher. A very large hand, which she recognized as Ron's, gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I have to go," his voice whispered to her. "I'll look after your sister...this is your sister and not an aunt, right?"

"Winter is my sister," despite the situation, Weiss couldn't help but smile.

"Good, I don't want to make that mistake again," his hand left hers and she felt herself being lifted and carried away. Mentally, she urged Ron and Winter to take care of each other. She had just gotten around to wondering how Ron appeared out of nowhere, and why he had his pack and weapons with him, when the world faded to black.

* * *

Winter allowed herself four seconds; a few heartbeats, to watch her sister being carried away and through the breach. Then Major Schnee took over; reminding her that she had a duty to the citizens of Kuchinashi...to the concept of peace and cooperation between Mistral and Atlas. Besides, Weiss' best chance of survival lay with defeating the attack.

"Fire support, is the spotter on the wall?" She demanded into her scroll.

"I'm here," the terse reply sounded over the tiny speaker.

"I want a rolling barrage, between us and the goliaths," she ordered. "Keep the fire right behind them so they keep moving! Crew served weapons, concentrate on the White Fang, don't let them reorganize!" She lowered her scroll and looked directly at the men and women that had emerged from the breach. "Reaction force, on me! We're going to counterattack and scatter the attackers."

She spun and took off at a jog, Taiyang, Raven and Ron right behind her and the reaction force following them. She frowned slightly; she hadn't had a chance to take Ron's measure and didn't know his capability. Mentally, she shrugged; they would see combat soon enough and she would then know his worth...or lack thereof. Ahead, the goliaths had started to slow their panicked flight but mortar rounds dropped behind them, spurring them to keep moving. The White Fang that had massed for a rush through the breach were scattered, scrambling to avoid the terrified grimm. Crew-served weapons on the walls fired into the disorganized mass, scattering them further. Over her scroll, she heard the commander reorganizing his forces to take advantage of the situation.

She frowned harder; good news usually meant something bad was about to happen.

"Alpha team, attack to the left!" She ordered. "Raven and Tai, go with them! Bravo team, attack to the right! Ron, you're with me in support!"

The soldiers weren't proper hunters, but they were still well trained. In response to a command from their leader, half of the team with Winter dropped to a prone position and fired upon the White Fang, who were trying to reorganize themselves. The other half followed her at a slow run. Dust rounds came her way, prompting her to dodge some and deflect others with her saber. She noted that Ron had joined his tonfa into a staff and was using it to deflect rounds heading his way. She frowned slightly; while blocking rounds was effective, it was better to dodge them. Since it was difficult to tell the type of round, you didn't know if blocking could release flame, encase your weapon in ice or unleash a jolt of electricity. Still, he was keeping the rounds from hitting the soldiers behind him, so she wasn't about to complain.

Halfway to the scrambling White Fang, the leader barked another command. In response, the soldiers who had been following behind Winter dropped and opened fire while those who had been firing got to their feet and moved forward. Winter picked up her pace, choosing a speed that would allow her to close on the enemy as quickly as possible but still be ready to fight when she got there. Incoming fire tapered off as her team's fire either hit the White Fang, or drove them to take cover. Then, she was among the foe.

The problem one faced when dealing with a grass-roots sort of uprising like the White Fang, was that you never knew just what you were dealing with. The organization had a handful of experienced, dedicated operatives as capable as any graduate from a huntsman's academy. They also had capable members, roughly the equivalent of a kingdom's soldiers or police. However, the vast majority were inexperienced and ill-trained youngsters with more emotion than common sense. While Winter would have preferred to simply disarm and disable such manipulated folk, she couldn't take the chance that there were no wolves in among the dogs...so to speak.

She showed no mercy, stabbing, slashing, kicking and continually moving. She had been injured fighting the goliaths, but she pushed herself, knowing that if she scattered the attackers out here beyond the wall, Mistral might be able to rally reinforcements to the city before the White Fang could reorganize. She hardened her heart as they fell before her; while some would be able to survive, if they could be hauled back to the city and given prompt medical treatment, most would not.

Next to her, Ron was showing that he was a capable asset. Winter came to the conclusion that he was very well trained and experienced in hand-to-hand combat, and that experience and skill was serving him well with his weapon of choice. However, he was still adapting to using weapons and, strangely enough, he wasn't very experienced in aura use. Still, he was clearly a powerful force and his use of the tonfa-staff meant that most of his opponents had a good chance of surviving their encounter.

One of her opponents proved to be competent; he blocked several of her attacks and launched two well-executed combinations of his own. One of the attacks had actually forced her to adjust her own attack against him. Yet, he wasn't on the level of a trained huntress; her fourth attack broke through his aura and her fifth pierced his heart. For a moment, she felt regret, wondering what drove a young man with a fair amount of skill to take up with a band of terrorists to overthrow a kingdom. Yet, the officer in her crushed the sentiment; she was a soldier and her duty was to defend Mistral so peace between the kingdoms could be restored.

The last of the White Fang in her immediate area fell, so she looked to the other team. The other group of White Fang must have had a fairly competent leader, as she was squared off against Taiyang while Raven and the soldiers mopped up what was left. The woman, who was armed with a trident, stabbed at the teacher, who blocked the blades with his dust-encrusted forearms. Sparks flew from his flesh and his assailant quickly struck with the haft, prompting him to duck and sweep at her feet with an ankle. She hopped over his leg but he continued his spin and kicked one of her legs as she was landing. While she didn't fall, she did stumble and that allowed Taiyang to press in close. Before she could regain her distance, he grappled her and drove his knee, several times, into her gut. Dazed, she couldn't resist when he drove his knee into her face and dropped her to the ground.

"Commander," Winter reported over her scroll. "We have scattered the White Fang that were following the goliaths. We have several prisoners as well as our own wounded. I intend on pushing forward!"

"I concur," his voice sounded. "I am arranging for teams to gather the wounded and the prisoners."

"Roger," she replied. Gathering her forces together again, she quickly briefed them as to her intentions.

"We're going to follow the retreating goliaths," she announced. "And engage any White Fang we meet. We want to disrupt any assault so that Kuchinashi can finish preparing. Once hunters and heavy weapons are in place, the White Fang will never take the city."

Nervous nods answered her; the soldiers knew they were going into great danger. Reluctantly leaving their wounded behind for following teams, they fell in behind the Atlesian and continued farther away from the city. The torn ground the goliaths left behind provided an easy trail to follow as they made their way through the ring of outlying farms that surrounded the city.

"Something isn't right," Taiyang warned them. "These homes would be excellent quartering space for the White Fang, so why aren't they here?"

"They took heavy losses during the last assault," Winter countered. "So perhaps their ranks are depleted. The plan may have been to send first goliaths, then lesser grimm, then the White Fang to mop up. Even if the enemy has rudimentary control over the grimm, keeping the grimm away from the faunas would make sense."

"That makes sense...to a point," Raven commented. "The small party of White Fang may have been in place to attack in the goliaths' wake and create terror, drawing the rest of the grimm."

"More White Fang managed to retreat than we engaged back there," Taiyang argued. "Either we're being set up or something else is happening."

"So what would you have us do?" Winter demanded.

"What we are," he shrugged. "But with a great deal of caution."

Winter shot an irritated scowl his way but he barely seemed to notice it. Instead, he turned his attention to the young man accompanying them.

"Ron, is it?" Taiyang asked, getting a nod in return. "And I believe that the small fellow here is Rufus?"

"Yep!" The mole rat answered.

"I understand you stayed at my home for a few weeks," Taiyang stated, hoping to prompt a conversation.

"With Qrow, Yang and Weiss," Ron confirmed.

"And before that, you spent time on the trail with my other daughter," the teacher continued. "How was she doing?"

"She seemed fine," Ron told him, after thinking for a few moments. "She was concerned about Qrow, who was injured at the time. She was lonely for home but was determined to reach Mistral. I accompanied Qrow to you home."

"How did you meet Ruby?" Taiyang pressed.

"I...was attacked by grimm when I arrived on Anima," Ron's voice sounded guarded. "She and her teammates rescued me."

"According to Yang, you're not from the kingdoms," the teacher continued. "Where are you from?"

"General Ironwood asked me not to tell," Ron replied. "A few people in Atlas and Mistral know but it's...sort of hard to explain."

"We're going into a life-and-death struggle," Raven pointed out. "I think you can tell us your origin."

Ron wasn't sure, but he swore a momentary, clever look passed between Raven and Taiyang.

"Never mind," Taiyang told her, then turned his attention back to Ron. "I noticed that you are well trained, but you don't seem to make use of aura in your strikes. Were you trained to fight before having your aura activated?"

"Yeah," Ron admitted, then suddenly got the impression that he had let something go that he shouldn't have.

"What's your last name?" Raven asked him.

"Stoppable."

"So this big bomb that destroyed BatiKiyisi, it came from you homeland, right?" Raven continued.

Ron just looked at her, which he realized had probably answered the question.

"Enough!" Winter snapped. "If General Ironwood declared that Remnant isn't ready to learn his origin, then it isn't up to us to question. Besides, this questioning is distracting us from our mission!"

"Actually, this questioning is necessary," Raven growled at her. "Ron here is a capable, but not well known factor. We need to get a better grip of his capabilities if we're going to work well together. Besides, we have every right to question him about this super-bomb."

"But we won't," Taiyang interrupted. Again, Ron swore a sudden glance passed between the two.

"Anyway," the teacher continued. "The last I heard, you were in Mistral. How did you get here so fast?"

"It was my semblance," Ron answered. "I guess Weiss was in danger and it pulled me to her." Ron's face looked troubled. "But it didn't return me to where I was. It's only happened one time before this, and I came back once K...once whomever I had to help was out of danger."

"So, this is the second time in your life that your semblance activated?" Raven asked. When Ron nodded, she continued, "and it seems to be passive?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "I can't control it, so Weiss and I thought it was because...someone special to me...was in danger."

Now Taiyang directed a sly smile towards the fuming Winter. "So I guess Weiss has become special to you...or maybe you're special to her."

"Or both," Raven added, also giving the officer a sidelong smirk.

"Back on subject," Taiyang declared. "I saw you throw back a goliath, so I would have assumed that your semblance was hyper-strength. Where does that extreme power come from?"

"I...uh..." Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "A...supernatural kind of power sort of manifests through me whenever it feels like it."

"And how did this come to pass?" Raven asked him.

"Well...a long time ago this crazy guy had researched it hunted down some jade statues from monkey-temples all over the world. He was going to kill me and the only way I could get away was to accept this power."

"Monkey temples?" Raven asked. Now she looked like a cat that had figured out how to get into the bird cage. "And all over the world? As in different continents?"

"Yeah," Ron answered. "A couple were in Asia and one was..."

With a horrified look on his face, Ron slapped a hand firmly over his own mouth.

"I think that's enough of this," Winter hissed at them. "You're not trying to gauge capabilities, you're trying to learn his history...which General Ironwood wanted kept secret."

While the two former...and current...teammates stopped the grilling, they had smug looks on their faces. Ron suspected that they had figured out that he was from a different world but he didn't know what kind of an effect this knowledge could have. Some Mistralean officials had learned this, but was the general public on Remnant ready to learn? Was this just a very bad time for such a revelation? He had very confused thoughts for the next several minutes. It was a relief to hear Winter's scroll chime.

Winter Schnee stalked a few feet away from the others and covered her mouth as she spoke. Apparently, she operated on a 'need-to-know' basis when it came to information. After several minutes, she approached the group and drew everyone together, after setting a couple of sentries out to keep watch.

"Colonel Arvaken managed to get an airship overhead," Winter reported. "The goliaths are at a point roughly two kilometers away, two-thirty to our current direction of travel. There are also a large number of people starting to converge on that same point."

"Someone's re-organizing their forces," Raven murmured.

"That matches Colonel Arvaken, and my assessment," Winter offered a curt nod. "We're going to leave the road and approach this gathering as stealthily as we can."

"Wait a minute!" Taiyang interrupted. "Just what do you mean by a large number of people?"

"Hundreds," Winter glared at him for the interruption. "Perhaps a couple thousand."

"And there are twenty of us," he pointed out. "Just what are we going to accomplish?"

"We're going to make a rapid attack and then withdraw," Winter told him. "We are going to try to break up this organization before it can coalesce. If we can scatter it, we gain more time for Kuchinashi to prepare!"

"And if they're waiting for us?" He asked. "If they've already reorganized and are getting ready to march again?"

"Then Kuchinashi's defenders are down twenty bodies," Winter growled at him. "The risks to us are high, but the potential benefits to Kuchinashi are much greater. Now, I'll lead off with Raven. Taiyang and Ron will bring the rest behind us. Put out a rear guard and lets get moving!"

"Not so fast!"

Everyone spun, hands going to weapons, at the command. From behind a nearby house, four people emerged. Ron was tense, as one of them was a huge man with dark hair and a thick beard. Next to him, but keeping a respectable distance, was a muscular, athletic younger man with short, blonde hair and sporting a monkey's tail. On the other side of the giant, a smaller woman strode. She had dark hair and cat's ears as well as human ears. Leading them was the younger woman who had shouted at them. At first, Ron took her and the other woman to be sisters but with his luck, they were probably mother and daughter.

"What do you want with us?" Winter demanded.

"I know you," the young woman leading the four newcomers declared. "You are Winter Schnee, an officer in the Atlesian Military."

"And I know you," Taiyang countered. "You're Blake Belladonna. I've seen pictures of you, my name is Taiyang Xiao Long."

"Ruby and Yang's father," Blake nodded at him before facing Winter again. "And you are Weiss' older sister."

"Now that we've all had some introductions," Raven interjected. "Why don't you tell us your intentions? We've been hired by Mistral to defend Kuchinashi. Since we all have every reason to be here, and we have you outnumbered twenty to four, it seems that you should be the ones explaining yourselves."

"You don't have us outnumbered," Blake answered. "I have close to a hundred fighters surrounding you. You really should pay closer attention, put out scouts, and not talk so much when you're in hostile territory."

"Indeed," Winter gave Raven and Taiyang a hard look. "But instead of firing on us, you've decided to talk. I take it you have some sort of deal to offer."

"We don't want a war," the giant stepped forward. "My name is Ghira Belladonna."

"The name is known to me," Winter commented. "You're the chieftain of Menagerie."

"And therefore a spokesman of sort for Faunas everywhere," Ghira told her. "The White Fang attack on Vale was a horrid act and does not reflect the attitudes of the vast majority of faunas. These attacks against Mistral are the work of that same faction, a branch that has seized control of an organization that only wanted equal rights for faunas, via peaceful means."

"Yet you now have us surrounded," Winter countered. "That doesn't sound very peaceful to me."

"But it's practical," Ghira sighed. "Let me be blunt, we're here to halt the White Fang attacks on Mistral. We're going to confront Adam Tauras and take control of the White Fang away from him. It seems to me that we have a certain community of interest here."

"I could ask why we should believe you," Winter answered. "But if you intended on joining him, you would have simply gunned us down as a sign of worth. Instead, I'm going to ask you why we should think you will succeed."

"I used to lead the White Fang," Ghira admitted. "But when...radical members...started to agitate for more violent means to meet our goals, I stepped aside. Instead, I returned to Menagerie and concentrated on the well being of those who live there. In my absence, the White Fang has become hated by human and faunas alike. While the attacks on Vale and Mistral have inflicted horrendous casualties on the citizens of those kingdoms, the White Fang has suffered, as well. It is my intent to challenge Adam's leadership in front of his followers, to show them the folly of agreeing to be canon fodder for those who would see the kingdoms fall."

"I'd say you've chosen an interesting time to do that," Raven quipped.

"We were in no position to try to point this out, earlier," Ghira answered. "To be honest, we expected Kuchinashi to fall, but after inflicting heavy casualties on the attacking White Fang. Cinder Fall leaves Adam to his own devices when he prepares his assaults, so we were expecting her to leave him to recruit more faunas to his cause while she prepared to move on Mistral City itself. That was when we were going to move yet, we saw the goliaths sent fleeing from Kuchinashi and realized that his hold on the White Fang was probably the weakest it has ever been. Now is the time for us to act and put an end to this war." He paused. "How did you drive off the goliaths, anyway?"

"We get to keep some secrets," Winter told him. "But I will say that this young man, Ron, was key."

While the other three looked at him with a certain amount of cynicism, the young man with the monkey's tail looked at Ron with an expression that bordered on hero-worship.

"A pleasure to meet you!" The boy walked up to Ron with his hand extended. "My name is Sun Wukong."

"Ron Stoppable," Ron shook the proffered hand, then had to pointedly remove it from Sun's grip. "I...uh, believe that there are a few more introductions in order."

"Oh, right!" Sun rubbed the back of his head, a gesture Ron found strangely familiar. "You've met me, Blake and Ghira. The final member of our party is Kali Belladonna."

"Another former member of the White Fang," Winter added.

"Who left them when they became violent and dedicated her life to maintaining good government on Menagerie," the woman in question added. "Much like my husband and daughter, it is my intention to return the White Fang to its original goal." She paused for a moment. "Your party still has one member left unnamed."

"Raven Branwen," Raven named herself.

"Yang's mother," Blake commented.

"And leader of a bandit tribe," Kali added. "We try to keep track of the power players in the world."

"So we all have checkered pasts," Blake pointed out. "We all have reasons to not trust each other but we all have a common cause; we want to protect Kuchinashi and Mistral. We want to do it so that there can be peace between faunas and human. You want to do it so that Mistral remains a vibrant and strong kingdom. Those goals aren't counter to each other."

"And how do you propose to do so?" Winter asked.

"You can't attack the White Fang," Blake told her. "At the moment, Adam is having a crisis of leadership. He has to convince new recruits to follow him. If you attack him at this time, it will convince the fence-sitters that they have to make common cause against you. We have a chance to get the undecideds to either turn against him or just walk away."

"And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Winter demanded.

"You stopped the goliath attack on Mistral. If Cinder shows up, clearly allied with Adam, the undecideds will be swayed to team with the faction that can bring that kind of firepower to bear. Keep Cinder and the goliaths away from the gathering, so we have a chance to accomplish our mission."

"Even if it doesn't work, it will delay things," Taiyang pointed out.

Winter Schnee didn't want to take the offer at face value; it seemed too convenient, to good to be true. Yet, at the end, she trusted her sister. Blake and Weiss had been teammates and friends, and friendship was something precious to a Schnee. This whole mission in Mistral had been a series of trying to make due with ad-hock personnel. Why shouldn't this be different?

"I agree," Winter announced, even though she still had misgivings. "How do you propose to execute this plan?"

"First, could we ask how you managed to drive off the goliaths?" Blake asked.

Winter offered Ron a short nod. In response, Rufus scrambled out of Ron's pocket, climbed up his shirt and perched on his shoulder.

"THAT drove off the goliaths?" Ghira demanded. He didn't notice his wife and daughter's eyes narrow slightly, or the fact that they licked their lips.

"Hey!" Rufus squeaked at him.

"Rufus doesn't like being referred to as a thing," Ron informed the big man.

"I can't explain it," Winter chimed in. "But when the goliaths saw it...er...him, they turned and fled. We had injured one and killed another, but the rat drove them away."

"It can't be any weirder than anything else that's happened," Sun declared. "Look, I trust Ron. So if he says that...Rufus...can chase off the goliaths, then I believe him! When the rest of the White Fang realize that Cinder can't bring in her goliaths to support Adam, they'll leave him high and dry!"

"I really hate your optimism," Khali grumbled at the younger man.

"But I don't have any better ideas," Blake added.

"I received word that the goliaths seem to be gathering here," Winter activated a projection screen on her scroll. "We'll position our soldiers along this route, to keep an escape route clear. The four of us will move here and scatter the goliaths again. This will leave you free to deal with the leadership crisis among the White Fang."

"Very well," Blake nodded and held up her scroll. "Let's exchange contact information, so we can keep each other appraised as to our progress."

Winter did as requested and led her forces farther along the goliath's trail, occasionally dropping off small groups of the soldiers to maintain a route of retreat. At a point she had selected from a study of the area's topography, she led Ron, Taiyang and Raven to the right of the trail and around a knoll so they could observe the hollow where the goliaths had been spotted. Ron noted that there were now five goliaths in the hollow, one of which was badly wounded. Another of the creatures had a dark-haired young woman standing on its back, speaking to what appeared to be a floating, glowing jellyfish with arrowheads on the ends of its tentacles.

"Okay, that's not creepy at all..." he began to grumble, but Raven's hand on his shoulder, and her fingers digging into the joint, silenced him.

"Goliaths have large ears," she breathed into his ear. "Even larger than yours. If you don't want to give away the fact that we're here, shut up."

Ron gave her a hard look...but shut his mouth. Instead of complaining, he followed the others down the slope, seeking to get closer to the woman on the giant grimm. For once, he wasn't the clumsy, noisy one in the party. Remembering his lessons and Yamanouchi, he was able to move silently. Raven must have been used to sneaking through forested terrain and Taiyang had the grace and control that most people who specialized in hand-to-hand combat seemed to develop. While Winter was also quiet, she was by far the noisiest of the four, much to her clear irritation. Still, the goliaths were making enough noise; rumbling nervously and pacing about, to drown out their approach.

"...and the reason Kuchinashi has not fallen yet is that the goliaths fled in terror, scattering the White Fang who were available at the moment," the woman, who Ron assumed was Cinder, was speaking at the creepy grimm. "Yet the plan moves forward even as we speak. I have calmed the remaining goliaths and am ready to lead them back towards the city. Adam is rallying additional faunas and will have them ready to attack within the hour. I am standing by and will make an appearance and convince any who are...less than enthusiastic about supporting our ally."

"I have a very dim view of failure," a feminine, yet harsh voice answered from what Ron decided to refer to as the creepy. "Yet you seem to be adjusting to unforeseen resistance. Crush Kuchinashi and learn how the defenders drove off your strongest assets. Once this is done, contact me."

The creepy, which Ron now realized had been glowing slightly, went dim.

"The enemy has a method of long distance communication," Winter breathed to her companions. "It has to be eliminated right away. That will be my job. Taiyang and Raven will make the initial attack and draw their attention. I'll move next and eliminate the communicator grimm. After that, Ron and Rufus are up to scatter them."

Winter didn't wait for debate or questions; stalking quietly through the trees to put distance between herself and the two she had just ordered to cause a distraction. While this was going on, Cinder opened a scroll and started to speak with someone. Ron guessed that whomever she was talking to had to be within the coverage of the Mistral CCT tower. She hadn't finished when Raven and Taiyang made their move.

Raven, moving like lightning, burst from cover and slashed the nearest goliath on the leg. While the creature trumpeted with surprise and pain, Ron couldn't see any serious damage inflicted. Even as the grimm turned on the woman, Taiyang broke from cover and delivered a double-handed strike on what would be the Achilles Tendon on the same creature's rear leg. Raven ducked back into cover while the grimm, and the rest of the pack, turned on the now fleeing Taiyang. High above, Cinder raised one hand and unleashed a gout of fire towards the trees that Raven was hiding behind. The wood burst into flame, but the wily bandit had kept moving and was clear of the danger area. Cinder turned her wrath on Taiyang, who ducked behind a stony outcrop. Distracted, the angry woman didn't notice a series of glyphs form in the air behind her.

Winter rushed up the path she had created for herself while Raven peeked behind a tree and squeezed of a handful of rounds from a rifle. Ron chose to not think about where she carried the weapon...perhaps her sheath transformed. However, Cinder waved an arm in an almost lazy gesture, causing the rounds to deflect well before they reached her. With an arrogant smirk, she dodged at the last moment, allowing Winter's saber to miss her head by a whisker.

Unfortunately for the dark-haired woman, she wasn't the target of the strike. Instead of correcting her aim, Winter continued her motion, slashing the creepy grimm and cutting deep. Before Cinder could react, Winter spun completely and struck again, chopping the creature in half. For the first time, Ron saw an expression other than calm superiority on Cinder's face. Snarling in rage, she unleashed a fan of fire towards the silver-haired woman.

Winter didn't bother with a graceful retreat; she simply jumped from the goliath and formed a series of glyphs to get her to the ground in one piece. Unfortunately for her, Cinder's flame struck her a glancing blow, causing her pain and knocking her balance off. Instead of rapidly changing direction on the way to the ground, Winter tumbled from one glyph to another. Her smirk back on her face, Cinder lifted a hand and a dark bow formed in it. She made a drawing motion and a string, as well as three arrows, formed in the weapon.

Ron realized that he couldn't remain in hiding. Drawing his Tonfa, he jumped forward, using all of the enhanced strength in his legs, as well as the twirling weapons, to put himself between Winter and her assailant. When the arrows arrived, he swatted them aside only to see them shatter. His aura took several hits from jagged shards of glass and he was also knocked off balance, but he managed to land feet first and tumble, avoiding another gout of fire. Gaining his feet, he sprinted for all he was worth, barely keeping ahead of the flame.

"I cross dimensions, only to run into Shego again!" He whined, trying to zig-zag and throw off Cinder's aim. While his efforts didn't accomplish his goal, his companions came to his rescue. Taiyang grabbed Winter and pulled her into cover while Raven fired several more shots at Cinder. The woman on the goliath was forced to abandon her attack to deflect the incoming rounds.

"Ron! Rufus! Get the goliaths out of here!" Taiyang yelled at him, while more arrows flew at Raven. The bandit chief executed a series of back-flips, keeping away from the glass arrows while she found cover once again. The goliaths had gotten over their surprise and were converging on the party.

Ron sprinted out of cover and pulled Rufus out of his pocket. The little guy was in rare form; scampering onto his shoulder, sticking out his tongue and dancing a sort of Russian folk dance. Again, the grimm suddenly trumpeted in terror and ran away, fortunately away from the direction that the White Fang were having their meeting. However, Cinder wasn't done.

Snarling in frustration, she turned and released another jet of flame towards Ron. The blonde joined his tonfa into a staff and twirled it, sending a gale at the oncoming flame. To his shock, while the flames were weakened, they weren't completely dispersed. Fire struck his knuckles, burning him even through his aura. Before he could scream, a now familiar feeling came over him. He suddenly saw the world through a brownish haze and then...he was somewhere else.

A moment ago, he had been fighting in a sunny, forested glen. Now he found himself in a dimly-lit cavern, toe-to-toe with Gill Moss.

* * *

 _As always, fond thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading. Here's wishing everyone who reads this a happy and prosperous 2018._


	35. Chapter 35

"Uh, this might not be the best time to ask this, but you've done a parachute jump before, haven't you?"

Hirotaka gave Kim a look that was a little irritated, but mostly amused. To the side, Shego merely smirked.

"Indeed, Kim," he assured her, shouting to be heard over the aircraft's noisy engines. "Although Master Sensei prefers to have his agents peacefully infiltrate our targets' operations, there are times for more aggressive action. Besides, I would have brought this up in the planning phase had I not." He paused for a moment. "We have not had time to train together, so I wish you to understand that I will be completely working to support you. You and Mr. Stoppable had a strong team bond, so you will have to give me instructions that you wouldn't have to give him."

"He makes a good point."

Not very many people could pull off a nonchalant drawl while shouting to be heard in a noisy aircraft, but Shego managed it.

"We've gone up against each other enough that we should be able to work in close proximity without tripping ourselves up. Ninja boy here hasn't worked around us. I know that you and Stoppable were big into the teamwork thing, but in this case, we're probably better off keeping him at arm's length."

"Understood," Kim nodded. They had gone over this before, but it didn't hurt to make sure they understood the situation. "Remember, the primary goal of this raid is to get Dementor out of there in one piece. While we can re-build Drakken's machine without him, we need his expertise to get a lock onto Ron's new reality."

"We seize Dementor and get him to the surface," Hirotaka recited. "Once there, we signal Wade and a special forces team off shore will evacuate him and set a siege on the lair. While inside, we will attempt to apprehend Amy Hall or other personnel and secure machines or other intelligence, but only insofar that such activities do not inhibit our ability to extract Dementor." The burly ninja smiled at the redhead. "I'm not going to lie and say that I want to get Stoppable back as much as you do, but I can assure you that I, as well as Yamanouchi, want him back on Earth."

"Okay, I'm obsessing on this," she shook her head.

"And nobody's holding it against you," he assured her. "I'm actually jealous; I could only dream of someone being so determined to recover me."

"Well, before we get into the weepy and emotional part, I'd like to remind you that we're withing ten minutes of the drop point," Shego pointed out. "As much as cartoons and television dramas would like you to believe it, time doesn't expand so everyone can declare their motivation when it's time to do something."

"Fine," Kim couldn't help but grin a little. "So what's your motivation?"

"Motivation _s_ ," Shego corrected her. "Money and reputation."

Hirotaka and Kim just looked at her.

"Fine!" Shego threw up her hands. "Reputation should be obvious; Amy took away something I was guarding. If I want any respect, I'm going to have get the hobbit back from her. As for money..." She got a slightly dreamy look on her face. "Once we get the little pain back, he'll be able to focus in on this Remnant place. There will be two planets in communication, and the link will be in Drakken's lair."

"In history, every time there has been a choke-point where civilizations interact, whomever controls the point makes a fortune!" Shego continued, her eyes positively dreamy. "The Suez and Panama Canals, the Straits of Malacca, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles...all of them are commerce channels. Dr. D is going to be in control of an access point that makes the trade through those other points look like a kid's lemonade stand. He's going to make a mint, even after paying off everyone that helped him build it, and he's always very generous with his employees."

"Well, it's good to see that rescuing Ron and the adventure of contacting another civilization haven't tainted everyone's reasoning," Kim grumbled.

"You can always trust greed," Shego shot back. "But the important thing is that I'm in on this. Now, we have just a few minutes to go, so has your nerdlinger come up with anything else?"

"Nope," Kim told her. "We execute as planned."

One of the things that Wade had provided for the three infiltrators were reduced-capability, wrist-mounted kimmunicators. While they didn't have the diagnostic capabilities that Kim's had, they still had the ability to track the user through the cavities that the ground-penetrating radar had mapped. Wade hadn't just mapped out cavities in the ground, he had also made scans of possible utility paths, such as electrical conduits, HVAC ducts and plumbing. From this data, he had predicted which cavity was dedicated to living spaces, laboratories, storage spaces and other uses. While he couldn't guarantee that each space was used for the purpose he estimated, he had a very high probability of being right. However, he had also come up with some troubling findings.

Several large rooms didn't have utility connections; no heating or ventilation, no water or sewer. While the young man admitted that they could be storage spaces, you generally kept such spaces heated in the harsh climate of Kongsoya Island. Yet, no air-handling ducts of any sort appeared to enter these rooms, despite the fact that they were located close to what Wade predicted was a production lab and were connected to the lab by a very large corridor. Since the team was interested in recovering Dementor and not in investigating mysteries, they decided to avoid these rooms if possible.

However, there was no more time to worry about things already decided; it was time for action. The aircraft was now over the island and Kim led the way, jumping out and exulting in free-fall. For a few, precious seconds she was able to revel in the adrenaline rush and forget that Ron was still on another world, waiting for her to rescue him. She was able to be Kim Possible again, a young woman of action, not despair. All too soon, it was time to pull the ripcord.

They came down on the highlands of the island's western end. Kim landed with her usual grace; releasing one of her risers then tumbling to collapse the canopy. Shego performed a similar move. While Hirotaka didn't have the experience, he managed a safe and utilitarian landing. They couldn't tarry here; not only did they risk detection in the open, the island had a fairly dense polar bear population. Hirotaka claimed their parachutes and threw some rocks over them so they wouldn't be obvious to bystanders while Kim located the nearby entry point. Was it a cliche, or was it a celebration of happier times that it was a ventilation duct?

The air intake was cleverly disguised as a boulder, but some quick work with her laser lipstick cut off the top. As they had practiced, both Shego and Kim pulled small, stout tripods out of their packs and set them on either side of the duct, then fastened a strong bar and winch between them. They had been on the ground less than five minutes when Kim connected the winch's cable to her belt and descended into the Earth.

Activating the low-light receptor on her goggles, Kim halted her descent just before the duct entered the air-handling unit. She attached a suction cup to the side of the duct and pulled out her laser again, cutting an opening through the thin metal. Using the cup, she eased the freed piece out of the duct and to the ground, next to the unit itself. Slipping through the opening, she quickly confirmed that the dark mechanical room was deserted before freeing herself from the cable and signaling her companions that the coast was clear. The cable retracted upwards and moments later, Hirotaka lowered himself down the duct and through the opening. The cycle repeated itself and Shego slipped through the opening. With the duct no longer being used for an unconventional means, Hirotaka set a repeater inside the duct, then he and Shego taped the cut piece of metal back into the opening as best they could.

"Wade, we're in," Kim whispered into her headset.

"Repeaters seem to be working fine," his voice sounded from the earpiece. "Your entry point is well camouflaged, but I don't know how much time you have."

"Understood," she whispered back. "We're executing the plan."

The three quickly pulled off their camouflaged outerwear, revealing other clothing underneath. Hirotaka was now dressed in a maintenance man's coveralls, Kim in a technician's lab coat and Shego wore something that appeared to be business attire. While the team didn't know what sort of attire Dementor's employees wore...assuming she had human employees here...they had learned that dressing like you belonged in a facility was less conspicuous than wearing stealth or military attire. Hirotaka listened at the door while the Shego and Kim put their hair in order. The former adversaries shared a humorous look; admitting to just a bit of vanity in keeping long hair when their activities would be much better served if they kept it short. With the paper-thin disguises in place, Hirotaka peeked out of the door. He got a troubled look on his face but exited the room, Kim and Shego right behind him. They quickly realized what had him so troubled.

The corridor was very dimly lit, and chilly.

"Dementor's henchmen would never put up with this," Shego whispered to the others. "The half-pint gets them from Jack Hench and he charges them enough in union dues that they demand proper working conditions."

Her concerns growing, Kim led the way towards what they had earmarked as the production laboratory. This room was illuminated much more brightly, but was also deserted. There were none of Amy or Dementor's usual machinery, just large vats of thick, dark liquid that seemed to absorb the light. Looking closer, the three noted that the outsides of the vats were coated with the fluid and that it had slopped on the floor between the vats. A trail of the fluid led off down a different corridor that the one they had entered from.

The corridor led to the mystery rooms.

Kim had a full-capability kimmunicator on her wrist, and knelt to focus a sampler beam on the fluid.

"I wouldn't touch that stuff if I were you," Shego pointed out.

"Do I look like I'm stupid?" Kim snapped back.

Shego simply smirked in reply. Growling at her, Kim finished taking the sample and activated the data link so that Wade could analyze it.

"We're not here to investigate mysteries," Shego reminded the other two. "We're here to grab the hobbit. Once we have him out of here, we can let Global Justice, or whomever wants to, storm this place with as much firepower as they can muster."

Kim and Hirotaka merely nodded their agreement, but then voices were approaching from another direction, sending them scrambling for hiding spaces.

"Nein! You cannot do this!" Dementor's voice sounded, his screams were of outrage and despair.

"You know I don't want to," Amy's voice answered, growing closer. "But I have to feed my babies. I can't bring them into this world and then neglect them, can I?"

From out of the hallway that led to what Wade had believed to be Dementor's personal quarters, three figures emerged. The first was Amy Hall. Kim noted that she had retained her original form, having changed from her gorilla form sometime before she and Ron had graduated high school. The redhead's breath caught in her throat when she noted that the geneticist was wearing Fiske's heart as a locket, on a gold chain around her neck.

"It's your fault," Amy chided the figures following her. "You had me working so hard to form these grimm that I used up all of the negative emotions I had stored to make them, not to feed the ones that I had already made. Even my sweet little creatures can only harvest so much hate and anger, so I had to make due with what I had here!"

To Kim's shock and alarm, Gill Moss, from Camp Wannaweep, was carrying Dementor behind Amy. The boy was back in his mutated state which caught her by surprise; while he had been in this state the last time she had seen him, he was in the process of being returned to Professor Lurkin, who had returned him to human form before. She was so surprised that she didn't call for an immediate attack on the unsuspecting villains.

"I should really come up with another name than grimm," Amy continued to chatter, as the three passed through the lab and down the corridor with the trail of dark liquid. "Maybe ebonies or furies. What do you think?"

"How can you do this to my men?" Dementor's voice wailed.

"I'm assuming that the amphibious creature is dangerous," Hirotaka whispered, as he and Shego emerged from their hiding places to join Kim near hers. "And this is why you did not seize our target when he was available."

"Gill is dangerous," Kim told him. "He's strong, durable and can spit a slime that will immobilize you and mutate you, if it's in contact with you long enough." She took a deep breath. "But the reason that I didn't attack was that he caught be by surprise. I should have grabbed Dementor."

"We'll talk about it later," Shego hissed. "The question is, what now? Do we go after them and grab him, or do we wait and try to catch them when they come back?"

"We go after them," Kim decided, after thinking for a couple of minutes. "We don't know if Amy has some sort of creatures wandering the lair. The longer we wait, the greater our chance of being discovered. As it is, they're not expecting us."

"Makes sense to me," Shego shrugged. "Lead on."

Kim took the lead, with Shego following and Hirotaka covering their rear. The three they were following had passed out of sight, and even earshot, in the dim corridor but Kim could follow the fresh disturbances in the thick liquid splashed on the floor. This trail led to the second door on the right. Kim tried the door, but it was locked. She was reluctant to try to break it in, both because it was a very sturdy, steel door and she hoped to have some chance of catching her quarry by surprise. So, she contacted Wade.

"It's a chip reading lock," the young genius reported, once Kim focused the optics on her Communicator on the door. "Hold the kimmunicator close, I'll try to crack the code."

Dementor was no fool; even though the young Wade Lode had a great deal more experience breaking into facilities than the physicist had at keeping people out of his, however, the short villain was smart enough to make his electronic locks difficult to open. Kim couldn't even begin to guess the routines and subroutines Wade was executing remotely, she only knew that her kimmunicator and the door were exchanging data at an incredible rate. Muffled screams sounded from behind what Kim assumed to be a thick door, making the three more than a little nervous about what they were trying to reach. After several minutes, a light above the lock flashed green and the door unlocked.

Carefully opening the door, Kim looked into a vast, dark room. The walls to the left and right were lined, four stories high, with walkways and barred cells. On the other end of the floor, Gill was just shackling the last of a group of men, who's uniforms Kim recognized as Dementor's henchmen, to a chairs, that were facing a large viewing screen.

"Do we have to do this!" Dementor, who was shackled at the back of the group, demanded of his captors.

"We have to feed the grimm," Gill gargled at the man, while anticipatory growls sounded from the cells. "And they feed on negative emotions. You have to admit, this is better than torture...well, physical torture at least."

"I may disagree with this!" Dementor shrieked. The henchmen whimpered, clearly having been through...whatever they were about to go through...again.

With the targets distracted by each other, Kim led the other two, creeping closer. Ahead, Amy activated a control and the screen displayed...

"Reality television?" Shego whispered. "Amy's feeding grimm by forcing the henchmen to watch reality television?"

"It's not just any reality television," Kim gasped, staring at the screen with increasing horror. "It's..."

"It's some show about several air-brushed women, who always seem to wear clothing that reveals a great deal, doing a whole lot of nothing," Hirotaka commented, is own gorge rising somewhat. "Who can watch something like this?"

"It's _Maintaining Pace with the Merrimakians_ ," Kim confirmed.

"How is this even legal?" Hirotaka groaned, thankful that he was far enough from the screen that he couldn't make out a great deal of detail, and far enough away that even the high-fidelity sound system was barely audible.

"I think it has to do with when the Geneva Convention was signed," Shego whispered, averting her eyes from the horror continuing to pour from the screen. "It outlawed the dispersal of chemical toxins in time of war, but it was signed before this sort of stuff was even technologically feasible."

"It needs to be updated," Hirotaka shook his head. "Either that or narcotics definitions. I didn't think that...entertainment...could be so addictive to the weak and so...destructive!"

"Look at the grimm!" Kim hissed to the others.

Following her gesture, the others looked to the galleries of cells. Each contained a dark creature that was staring at the writhing men out on the floor. The grimm were mostly simians, but there were also a handful of werewolf like creatures and a couple of bears. All of them were standing at the doors to their pens, seemingly calm.

"They're actually feeding on the suffering from Dementor and his henchmen," Shego remarked, in a kind of sick wonder.

The three were so distracted by the fact that the grimm seemed to be contentedly feeding that they didn't see Gill, disgusted with the contents of the viewing screen, spin and walk away. Of course, he immediately spotted the trio.

"We've got company!" He snapped.

Amy, who was watching the show with a smile on her face, immediately became stern.

"They can't leave me alone, ever!" She complained. "All I wanted was to bring Monty back and they won't let me do it! What did I ever do to bother them? I guess Dementor was right, I needed these grimm! Let's see what they think of them now!"

Kim could only think that it was an uh-oh moment when the chubby geneticist produced a remote control and pressed a button. To both sides, a series of clicks and whirs sounded as the cells unlocked and slid open. The grimm had apparently been lulled into lethargy by their feeding, as they were slow to react. Kim took a chance.

"Get them!" She snapped at her companions. "This might be our only chance! Hiro, get Dementor, Shego and I will take care of Gill!"

Not looking to confirm that her companions were following her, she broke into a sprint at Ron's mutated foe. She dove into a forward roll when he spewed a stream of his slime at her, which splattered harmlessly behind her. Shego's snarled profanity let her know that her former nemesis had followed her. A quick glance to one side told her that the grimm were emerging from their daze, shaking their heads and looking at the humans with growing interest.

"We have to free the henchmen!" Hirotaka grumbled, as he overtook the redhead. "They're helpless! When those things come out and attack..."

The burly ninja didn't need to finish.

"Take on the fish!" Shego snapped at the redhead. "Ninja-boy has the hobbit and I'll take care of the critters!" Her hands glowed with her plasma power.

"Don't..." Kim tried to prevent her from taking the next logical step, but she was forced to dodge another gout of Gill's mutagen slime. She turned her dodge into a front handspring and finished with a double-kick to the mutant's chest. Gill staggered back but kept on his webbed feet. He was always a strong foe, but Kim had other things to worry about.

Shego fired off blasts of plasma, destroying the lethargic grimm in several cells, much to Amy's vocal dismay. However, this attack seemed to shake the grimm out of their complacency. With roar that grew louder by the second, they surged out of their cells. The few that looked like bears or even stereotyped werewolves clambered over the rails and down to the floor, while the ape-like creatures showed more agility.

"Move it, you two!" Shego yelled. "I can't take them all!"

Gill was still clumsy on land. He lunged at Kim, his arms wide while he spat more slime. Kim ducked under the lunge and between his legs, landing a spinning back kick to the small of his back. That shot could have ended the fight, even crippled most of her opponents, but Gill's mutation made him much more resilient than most opponents. Still, he was sent sprawling on his belly, away from Dementor and the helpless technicians. Kim rushed to help Hirotaka.

Fortunately, the captives had been held by simple pin-type shackles. Hirotaka had already freed Dementor and as much as Kim hated the short villain, she had to admit that he at least refused to abandon his henchmen to certain death. No words needed to be spoken between the heroes; Hirotaka defended one side of the group, Kim defended the other while Dementor freed another man.

"Free everyone!" Kim snapped at the captives, while she landed a knee on the chin of an oncoming chimpanzee grimm. "Then we all leave here!" A pouncing howler monkey grimm caught her elbow to its temple.

"Why are you killing my creatures!" Amy wailed at them. "They've done you no harm!"

Kim didn't have time to answer, but Shego found the time and breath to give the geneticist a little attitude. "Because you sent other ones to attack us!" She yelled. "And you were building up these to take over the world! We'll never let you do that!" Despite the situation, Shego paused in confusion. "Did I actually say that?"

She had no further time for more contemplation; most of the oncoming grimm focused on Shego, who was by far the angriest and loudest in the fight. The grimm had closed on her by now so she no longer shot bolts of plasma, but encased her fists in the energy while fighting hand-to-hand. Kim didn't have time to make detailed observations; she could only struggle against the dark tide sweeping towards her and hope that her companions were holding their own.

"I only sent them to recover Monty's soul," Amy countered. "As well as Dementor and to make sure that that nasty Drakken couldn't send Monty back to that awful, other place."

"Then what about all of these things?" Shego growled at her.

"They are going to be Monty's servants," Amy answered. "He so much likes monkeys! This way, he can be surrounded by his favorite creatures and he won't even have to feed them. There's so much hate and anger in the world that I'll be able to keep them happy and healthy forever; all for him!"

"Sorry to break the bad news to you sister," Shego quipped. "But monkey-boy is _gone_!"

"For now!" Amy's voice sounded triumphant. "I can bring him back! I have his soul and I can create bodies now!"

"Wait, what?" Shego demanded.

"Amy, what have you done?" Kim spared the breath to answer the question, but couldn't take the time to look away from her own fight.

"What I needed to do for Monty!" Amy snapped back.

"We're all free!" Dementor's voice announced.

"Everyone back to the door!" Kim ordered. "We get out of here, close it behind us, and make a run for it!"

Suddenly, a hideous, choking noise sounded and was answered by Shego screaming in shock and anger. Before Kim could look, the noise sounded again and she was struck by a heavy blow to the back. The strike sent her flying beyond the knot of dark creatures that had closed upon her and slammed her to the ground. She struggled to get to her feet, but a mass of hideous slime had her stuck to the floor.

Gill had hit her with his mutagen slime while she was distracted with the grimm!

Before Kim could shout a warning, another choking noise sounded, this time answered by Hirotaka's expression of shock. Twisting her head around, she could make out the young man, pinned much like she was. Dementor was caught next, the slime gluing his feet to the floor although he remained on his feet. Twisting her head the other way, Kim saw grimm closing in on her.

She was doomed. She was pinned and helpless for the grimm to shred her limb from limb.

A loud pop sounded behind her, and she twisted her neck and upper torso to their limit to see what new horror was about to descend on her. Instead of another monster, she saw Ron, standing right in front of Gill.

For less than a heartbeat, the two old foes glared at each other in shock, then both moved at the same time. Gill hurled slime at Ron, but the young man twirled a staff in his hand, splattering the goo away from him. The young man struck like lightning, hitting both of Gill's ankles. When the mutant reflexively lifted both feet, Ron drove a knee into his descending belly then spun in a complete circle, striking the side of his opponent's head with devastating force. The spin allowed Ron to see where Kim was trapped, with grimm almost on top of her. She lost sight of him when a bear-like grimm stepped into her line of sight and a heavy, clawed paw pressed down on her back. She closed her eyes and braced for the pain, but the weight was suddenly gone. Opening her eyes, she saw that Ron was now standing over her, wielding a pair of tonfa.

Whatever he had been doing on Remnant, a great deal of it must have involved fighting. She had seen him use the raw power that the Mystical Monkey Power gave him, but now it was considerably more focused. He quickly smashed the grimm in her immediate vicinity, giving him a few seconds before the next wave closed in. He held one tonfa and manipulated the long arm, which caused blades to emerge from the handle and short arm. A quick slash and she was free of the slime.

"I won't be here long," he gasped at her, acting like he was in minor pain. She noted that his hands seemed to have burns when he pulled a small, cloth bag out of a pouch and handed it to her. "What's the sitch?"

"I'm here with Hirotaka and Shego," Kim told him, kicking an oncoming chimpanzee grimm while slipping the bag into a cargo pocket. "We need to get Dementor out of here so that we can get you back. Also, Amy's got some evil plan that revolves around that rock that she's wearing around her neck."

Explanation completed...or at least completed as best she could under the circumstances, Kim rushed towards Hirotaka's last location. It felt like old times, with Ron backing her up; but it was different, as he had clearly upped his game while being gone. He had already gained some mastery of his Mystical Monkey Power before they had started college, but now he used it with his own martial arts. For every grimm she defeated, he destroyed two.

Hirotaka had the fortune of being glued to the ground face up, by the waist. This meant that his arms and legs were free to defend himself. By the time Kim and Ron reached him, his forearms were covered with scratches and minor cuts, and his trouser legs were shredded, but the man himself had not taken serious injuries. Kim and Ron drove away, or destroyed, the grimm that were swarming him. With the breathing space, Ron sliced him free and he was on his feet.

"Glad to meet you," Ron offered his hand. "You must be Hirotaka. We switched schools for a week back in..."

"Mission!" Rufus shrieked, bouncing up and down on the blonde's shoulder.

"This way!" Kim instructed, leading the way to where Shego had been fighting when Gill immobilized everyone. Shrugging, the two young men fell in behind her, covering her while she forged forward.

They didn't really need Kim's guidance; the stream of graphic and creative profanity acted like a beacon. Even though they flinched at what Shego promised to do to Gill, Amy and Dementor once she was free, they closed the distance to find that she was in better shape than Hirotaka had been. While Gill had encased her in slime from the waist down, she had used her plasma powers to keep the grimm at bay and had used her claws to free herself, except for one foot still stuck to the floor. With the three younger fighters in the area, she had the breathing space to free herself completely.

"Whoa, the sidekick's back," she quipped, once loose. "And sporting some weaponry. It looks like this Remnant place has taught you some common sense!"

"I don't know how long I'll be here," Ron gasped, and Kim could see that he was developing the abrasions he had the last time. "We've got to complete the mission!"

"Got it," Kim gave his shoulder what she hoped was a comforting squeeze. "Lets get Dementor and his henchmen free. Shego, Ron, get them loose while Hirotaka and I keep the grimm clear of you."

While Shego was less than happy about not being able to clobber something, she understood that her claws made her more suitable to cutting the prisoners free. She clearly took some solace in the fact that there were still more grimm than Hirotaka and Kim could easily handle, prompting her and Ron to occasionally fight grimm. By the time the team had freed Dementor and his henchmen, there were very few grimm left to oppose them, much to Amy's anger.

"No!" She shrieked at Kim's team. "You can't just come in here and destroy my creations! They're for Monty, when I get him back!"

"What?" Ron, despite the abrasions that were getting more and more obvious on his exposed skin, took immediate interest."

"I'll show you!" Amy produced another remote and started to press buttons.

"Nein!" Dementor screamed, but it was too late.

Ron, who happened to be closest to the deranged geneticist, knocked the control out of her hands.

"What did you just do?" Shego demanded.

"This was one of six rooms holding the grimm!" Dementor told them. "She just unlocked all of the other cells and other storage rooms! They'll be on top of us in a few minutes!"

"Then we get out of here, now!" Kim told them. "Dementor, lead the way, unless you want to stay here with Amy and Gil!"

"That's Gill!" The aforementioned mutant gargled at her, now back on his feet. His chest swelled up as he prepared to spew more slime, but Hirotaka sent him sprawling again.

"I'm for moving!" Dementor shrieked. "Everyone, follow me!"

"You won't get away with this!" Amy was beside herself with fury and slapped Ron.

The young man was distracted and wasn't expecting the shot, which shot agony through his injured skin. Reflexively, he extended an arm to keep the dumpy woman away from him and wound up grabbing the piece of stone she wore as a locket. Remembering that this stone was key to one of her plans, he pulled it away from her body and cut through the chain with his tonfa's blade. She shrieked again and jumped at him but he managed to throw her to the side. His vision was getting very blurry as his eyes were suffering from being back on Earth.

"Let's go!" Kim shouted, grabbing Ron's shirt to guide him. Following Dementor, the group rushed back out of the door. The door across from them was open, as were four more to their right. Inside the room opposite the one they had just exited, they could see grimm emerging from their cells and, seeing them, move towards the door.

"We have to move!" Dementor shrieked, sprinting down the corridor.

Ron's bloodshot eyes suddenly flew wide. "KP, I can never come back," he told the young woman he had once hoped would one day become his wife, while shrugging off her hand and stepping away from her. "I've explained on the scroll I gave you. Get out, be well, live and have a goo..."

And suddenly, he was surrounded by a brown-tinged light and then, with an audible pop, he was gone.

"We can't stop to gawk," Shego growled at Kim, grabbing the redhead and interrupting her gawking. "We can sort it out once we're safe!"

While Kim wasn't happy to be herded way, she couldn't argue with Shego's logic. The sarcastic woman got the whole bunch moving, following Dementor while the three fighters brought up the rear. On three occasions during the escape, fast moving grimm managed to catch up to the fleeing group, only to fall to either the ninja, the heroine, or the former villain. Then, Dementor turned off of the wide corridor into a very narrow passage, where he pulled a lever. A portion of the wall slid aside, letting light come in. Dementor led everyone out into the harsh, arctic air.

The years of being foiled by Team Possible, and perhaps other heroes or agencies, had taught Dementor the value of always having a back door. Kim quickly realized that the opening hadn't appeared on their scans, yet she wasn't complaining; they would have probably had to release a sophisticated lock system if they tried to leave through the front entrance. Instead of being angry about Dementor's ability to hide an entrance, Kim hoped that the resources Dr. Director had arranged would be on their toes and ready to react to this unexpected exit.

The thrumming of helicopter blades told her that their support was on the ball. As the humans stumbled down the slope they emerged from, two gunships took up station above them. Kim flinched at the sound of one opening fire but turning, she saw the rounds shredding grimm that were emerging from the door. The humans continued to rush down the slope to where a pair of large, utility helicopters were descending to hover, just above the ground. Dr. Director herself was aboard one of the aircraft, so Kim grabbed Dementor and hauled him into that chopper. Shego and Hirotaka followed her, along with a couple of henchmen, while the rest piled into the other aircraft. Moment's later, they were aloft and safe.

"Certain NATO officers were wondering why I would request a live-fire training exercise off of the coast!" Global Justice's commander shouted to be heard over the engine noise. "And the flight crews gave me some very odd looks when I told them what to expect! I suspect they're questioning their own sanity, rather than mine, at this moment!"

"Amy and Gill Moss are still in the lair!" Kim shouted back. "Along with scores more grimm! We didn't have a chance to explore the entire complex!"

"I have a strike team just over the horizon!" Dr. Director told her. "They'll have boots on the ground within thirty minutes. We were just waiting for you to get Dementor and any hostages clear!"

With her portion of the mission completed successfully, Kim allowed herself to slump to the aircraft's floor in exhaustion. After a couple of minutes she remembered something.

"Shego, Hirotaka! Which one of you has Fiske's heart! We better keep a close eye on it, in case Amy manages to escape!"

Both the ninja and the retired villain looked at her, dumbfounded.

"I don't have that thing," Shego shrugged. "I never touched it the entire time."

"Nor did I," the ninja informed the redhead.

"But the last time I saw it..." Kim struggled to remember.

"I do not recall Stoppable-San ever dropping it," Hirotaka pointed out. "It was in his possession when he vanished."

* * *

"We will overcome Kuchinashi, and that will be only the first step in our revenge against those who have wronged us!" Adam Taurus shouted to the faunas, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, that surrounded him in the natural amphitheater. "Once Kuchinashi falls, we move upon Mistral itself, and Haven Academy! Vale and Beacon have already felt our revenge! After Haven, Shade and Atlas Academy will learn that the White Fang will not sit idly while the faunas are being crushed beneath the humans' feet!"

There were a few cheers from the crowd, but most of the faunas simply looked at him, neither approving or protesting.

"I understand that many of you are unsure," he continued. "That you may ask yourself if the sacrifice is worth it, if Mistral and Haven have harmed us so much to warrant such retribution. You haven't seen the mines beneath Solitas, where our people work as slaves. You haven't seen the slums of Mantle, where our people live in squalor. You haven't seen the upper classes in all of the kingdoms, where faunas aren't allowed. You haven't seen how the rich and powerful live lives of idle luxury, fueled by the blood and the sweat of our people!"

"It seems that you've found your own way of seeing the rich and powerful!" A voice that Adam loathed...and loved...called from the crowd.

Snapping his gaze in the direction he had been addressed from, he saw his former confidant, her sellout parents, and the foolish monkey faunas that followed the girl around like a lost puppy. When he saw Ilia Amitola with them, he couldn't hold back a sneer.

"So, being a traitor is contagious," he spat, loud enough so that everyone gathered could hear them. "I was a fool in the past! When I joined the White Fang, I thought that Ghira Belladonna was a wise and effective leader. I quickly came to realize that his methods, while well-meaning, were ineffective! He protested and organized strikes while our people were being ground underfoot. I actually admired him for stepping aside when the needs of our people called for a direct approach! I wished him well when he left to Menagerie, to be the administrator that he wanted to be. At least his daughter believed in the cause and was willing to do what needed to be done! But I was wrong!"

"Blake Belladonna turned her back on me, turned her back on the White Fang...turned her back on our people! She joined Beacon Academy and disguised herself as a human, where she fought against us!"

"I fought against those who would destroy a school that taught both faunas and human!" Blake shot back. "I fought to protect a school that taught that discrimination and exploitation is wrong! I fought to protect a school that taught that might _doesn't_ make right, and that the strong have an obligation to the weak, not the right to exploit them."

"You hid your faunas heritage!" He roared.

"I hid my association with _you!_ " She snarled. "But you're right, I should have been open about that, I should have admitted to my flaws and mistakes at the beginning, and the biggest flaw; the biggest mistake I ever made was listening to you!"

"You lost your way!" He retorted. "You lost your vision! We were going to spark revolution! We were going to tear down the wall that the humans had created to hold us down! Yet you couldn't go through with your pledge!"

"At what price!" She demanded. "Does every human deserve to die merely for being human? Does every faunas that doesn't support you deserve to die?"

"Even those humans who don't oppress our people support the institutions that do! That makes them as bad as those who grind us under their feet! Those faunas who don't support me are even worse; they stand idly by as their brothers and sisters are humiliated and degraded!"

"And who made you spokesman for the faunas?" Blake snarled in reply. "Who are you to judge? Who am I? If someone wants to live as a tradesman in Kuchinashi, or a longshoreman in Wind Path, or a shopkeeper in Mistral, who are you to tell them they can't?"

"I have the right of clarity! I see what's happening, just like every faunas with eyes! I see how the humans grind us into the mud, so I took it upon myself to make a difference!"

"Such clear vision!" Blake snarled in return. "A vision that led you to have Vale attacked by grimm. A vision that led you to ally with Roman Torchwick and Cinder! Tell me Adam, was it you or Cinder that started murdering the faunas in Vale, so that the others would join the White Fang? Was it you or Cinder that decided these new recruits should face student hunters with no training of their own? I was on that train, the train that crashed into the end of the tunnel at top speed! Tell me Adam, did you even care how many would have died in the collision?"

"I made the alliances that I had to, to support the cause! Sacrifice is necessary so that we can thrive!"

"And isn't the sacrifice so much easier to justify when you aren't the one making it?" Blake glared at him with her accusation.

"I've never shied away from risk!" He roared back. "I've put my own skin on the line more than I've asked anyone else to!"

"So tell me, Adam, do you pay everyone as well as you pay yourself for your efforts?" Blake now looked at the faunas that surrounded the quarreling pair. "We didn't come straight here! We first visited Adam's camp; a camp that he shares only with his most trusted followers and we found THIS in his tent!"

Blake produced a locked, metal briefcase and hurled to the ground, near Adam's feet. She had carefully weakened the latches and breathed a sigh of relief when they shattered, as she wanted them to. The container burst open, scattering thousands of lien around the fuming leader.

"Tell me Adam," Blake's voice, while now quiet, could still be easily heard all around the suddenly silent hollow. "Does Cinder pay you a set fee for the attack, or is it based upon the number of faunas you can throw at a city? Do you get a bonus for each recruit that gets killed? Does your followers blood earn you more of Cinder's lien?"

"The cause has expenses!" He spat back at her. "And I need alliances to cover them! Those who follow me need food, clothing, weapons and other supplies! Because of YOUR interference on Menagerie, our own people aren't supplying us, so we have to acquire them any way we can!"

"Oh, of course," while Blake had mastered sarcasm years ago, she was still getting used to the theatrical kind that one performed for an audience. Still, she did her best. "That's why your followers who attacked Mistral had the finest weapons, the finest armor, and the wounded received the best of medical care!"

"Getting the wealth was the first step!" He roared. "Just having lien doesn't mean you can turn it into what you need overnight!"

"So why didn't you wait until you were ready?" Blake bore in relentlessly...like she had learned from Adam. "Why didn't you wait until your followers were properly equipped, supported and trained? Is it because meeting Cinder's schedule was more important than supporting those who supported you?"

"You know nothing of the support I've gained with this alliance!" He yelled back. "She provides..."

"A small herd of goliaths, that are even now fleeing away!" Blake interrupted him. "Was that your plan? Were you going to cow those who wavered in their support of you with the thread of Cinder's grimm?"

Adam Tauras was no fool; he could see that the crowd's attitude was turning against him. With the exception of his loyal faction, as well as a bovine-faunas that hadn't cared for the wording of Blake's last charge, were looking at him with a decided lack of enthusiasm.

"Enough!" He roared, dropping a hand to his hilt. "I do not have to answer to you, _my love_! I am in charge here! I lead the White Fang and I will lead it to glorious revenge on the humans! Grab them!"

His loyalest followers, the score of hard-bitten men and women who had been with him all through his rise to power, surged behind him. Perhaps twice that many younger faunas from Menagerie gathered around Blake's followers. Surrounding them, the scores of faunas that he had recently recruited stood by indecisively, not knowing what to do when faunas fought faunas. That was fine, he would show them all what happened to those who opposed his vision!

Then there was no time to think of such things. His blade met Blake's and while she deflected his strike, his superior strength knocked her off balance. His following strike was blocked by the monkey's staff. Very well, now it was time for the boy to learn what it meant to come between Adam and what was his. But before he could strike down the fool, Blake was back, forcing him to parry her slash. Around him, it was much the same; his followers had been toughened by months of operations against the humans while Blake had a larger, though less experienced, following. Blood flowed and faunas fell. Screams of rage and pain filled the glen.

And then the grimm showed up.

* * *

Sometimes, clawing your way back to consciousness just wasn't worth the effort.

Weiss came to the conclusion when she forced her eyes open and the dim light assaulted her with a thousand stabbing points. Her eyes quickly shut again, allowing her to focus on her splitting headache and her nausea. After several deep breaths, she tested her eyes again, holding an arm over her face while squinting.

She realized that she was in some sort of medical facility and lying on a utilitarian bed. After a few more breaths brought both her pain and nausea under nominal control, she concentrated on what she could hear. There was a bustle of voices outside of the room in which she rested. Fortunately, there was no tone of panic or even alarm. Instead, a young orderly, followed by an older man, walked in through the door.

"Miss Schnee," the older man addressed her. "I am Doctor Ilac. Do you prefer to be called Miss Scnee or Weiss?"

"Weiss will do," she told him. "What happened?"

"Ah, interest in her condition," the doctor noted something on his scroll. "You were injured while defending our city's walls. While I don't know the specifics of your semblance, it appears that you took a major hit to your aura while utilizing it. Afterwards, you sustained at least one blow to your head. Because of your aura drain, you were vulnerable to damage and unable to heal at your usual rate. Your energy was also drained, so you were unable to stay awake. Are you feeling any odd effects at this time?"

"Nausea, headache and disorientation," she answered him.

"Anything else, such as sensitivity to light and sound?"

"Light hurts, what sounds are here aren't bothering me," she answered.

"Very well, could you please try to sit up?"

Now that she was trying to move, Weiss noted that she was covered by a thin sheet and wearing a hospital gown. While her head and stomach argued a little, she managed to get to a seating position without much more effort than it usually took. The attendant took up position behind her, in case she collapsed again, while the doctor checked her eyes, ears, heartbeat and listened to her breathing.

"Could you try to activate your aura?" The doctor then asked.

It was uncomfortable and more difficult than usual, but Weiss managed. A shimmering glimmer of white appeared momentarily over her body. Nodding, the doctor tested her knee jerk reflex. Weiss felt the mild blow, but was able to hold her leg steady.

"Please drop your aura," he instructed. Once Weiss did so, he tested her reflexes again. This time, she nearly kicked him.

"Very well," he smiled. "Your aura is recovering nicely. In a couple of hours, your nausea and headache should clear up. Once this is done, am I assuming correctly that you will want to be part of Kuchinashi's defense?"

"We're defending Kuchinashi now?" She asked. "I thought it was being evacuated."

"Of course!" He gave his head a sharp rap. "You have no way of knowing how much you affected the situation! You and your companions were able to scatter the goliaths threatening this city. That has given our defense forces enough time to bring in the necessary reinforcements. We already have proper hunters arriving and rumor has it that a siege cannon is being installed at this time." He offered a smile. "Several people have scroll footage of you and a companion killing a goliath. All of Mistral has seen it by now, so you're a bit of a celebrity in this kingdom."

"Oh, no," she dropped her head into a hand.

"There are plenty of people who would relish the fame," the doctor chuckled. "But as to my question..."

"Yes, I want to help defend the city," she told him.

"Then when you are released from this hospital, you'll be assigned to a barracks. For now, rest and get ready; we don't know when the next assault is going to come."

"Wait, how long was I out?" She asked.

"You were unconscious for about twenty minutes after you arrived here," he told her.

"What about my sister, Ron, the others?"

"If you are referring to those who were with you when you drove off the goliaths, they left on a raid shortly after you collapsed," the doctor told her. "No further information has been released to the civilian population at this time. Now, if you will excuse me, while we don't have many casualties at this time, we are preparing for the upcoming assault."

Weiss nodded absently in response. She didn't really pay any attention to the man as he left the room. She laid back down and the orderly helped cover her before he also left to perform other tasks. Despite her worry, Weiss somehow drifted off to sleep.

She woke again feeling much better. Her nausea had subsided, the lights didn't seem like the sun itself and there was no pounding in her head. Deciding to test her limits, she tentatively sat up, then climbed out of bed. She was a little sore, but didn't feel dizzy. In fact, she was feeling just a little hungry. She debated calling for a nurse, but decided to explore her room a little, instead. She opened a closet and found her pack, scroll and Myrtenaster waiting for her. Grabbing her scroll, she checked for incoming messages, only to be disappointed that there were none waiting for her. Sighing, she returned to her bed and started to poke at some of the streaming services, wanting to catch some news.

She allowed herself a proud smile when she caught some 'dramatic coverage of heroes defeating an invading goliath'. Other than that, the news was dominated by public service announcements, urging those residents still in Kuchinashi to keep off of the streets so that the defense force would have unimpeded access during the impending attack. Sighing, she turned the device off again set it aside, only for her eyes to flash wide in shock.

A bright, brown light appeared at the foot of her bed and quickly grew into an oblong shape, higher than she was tall and wider than her shoulders. She didn't have a chance to jump out of bed before, with a loud pop, it vanished to reveal Ron.

"Winter, Tiayang, Raven!" The man called, settling into a defensive stance. "I can't see! I need help!"

"Ron!" Weiss called, scrambling from the bed and to her friend. Rufus scrambled out of his pocket and ran around their feet, not knowing what to do.

"Weiss? What are you doing here?"

"You're in my hospital room?" She told him. Now that she was next to him, she realized that he was covered with abrasions. "Come this way, lets get you sat down."

"I was outside of the city," he told her. "We had just made the goliaths run away again when I was back on earth. We fought grimm and rescued some people before my semblance brought me back! But why did it bring me here? Shouldn't I have gone back to where I was before I was pulled to Earth?"

"I don't know," she whispered to him. As soon as she got him seated, she pressed the call button to summon assistance.

The next several minutes were hectic. The attendant that answered the call had a near panic attack upon seeing an obviously injured, strange man sitting on the bed. Weiss' explanation seemed to fly over his head, and she had to physically restrain him from trying to capture Rufus. The doctor that arrived shortly thereafter seemed to be able to grasp the situation. Soon, Ron was bandaged with damp bandages, so he could heal. Rufus was declared a service animal and allowed to stay with the young man. By the time Ron was checked into his own room, Weiss had been released from the hospital. She returned to her room to put on her normal attire and claim her pack and weapon. She stopped by Ron's room, promised to visit him again very shortly, and left to leave her pack in the barracks she had been assigned to.

The hospital's automated systems recorded her as being released and scheduled the room to be prepared for another patient. Shortly after she left for the barracks, a custodian changed the bedding and tidied up the room. Under the bed, he found a piece of rock, shaped vaguely like a human heart. For a few moments he wondered what it could be but decided that if it had been valuable to Weiss Schnee, she would have taken it with her. Thinking no more about it, he tossed it into his waste container, to be disposed of with the rest of the garbage.

* * *

 _A/N: Again, my thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment or drop me a PM about this tale. As always, huge thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._

 _Until next time, best wishes to all;_

 _daccu65_


	36. Chapter 36

_A/N: I started this tale before RWBY Volume 5 was released, so there are some deviations from RWBY canon. For one thing, in this tale, Raven isn't the Spring Maiden. I also started to write before learning that Raven can only form portals from her current position to where Qrow, Yang, Taiyang or maybe Vernal are located. Also, Vernal doesn't exist in this tale. I have changed Raven's portal ability slightly; so that she can form the portal to the three characters, as well as form a portal to a location within her current line-of-sight._

* * *

"Where did he go?" Taiyang asked the two women he was accompanying. Before either could answer, they were all forced to dodge another gout of flame from Cinder. While the fall maiden was being borne away by a panicking goliath, she was trying to land some parting shots.

"I was watching," Raven told him, dodging the fire in an almost nonchalant manner. "The kid's eyes flew wide, he was surrounded by aura, then he vanished."

"So his semblance took him away," Winter concluded. With the goliath that bore Cinder vanishing into the trees...and taking the Fall Maiden out of sight...Winter relaxed slightly. "By any conclusion, our mission has been successful, we have further scattered the mega-grimm. If the Mistraleans are efficient, they will be able to bolster their defenses by the time Cinder can re-organize."

"So what now?" Taiyang asked her.

"We return to Kuchinashi," Winter informed him.

"What about Ron?" He asked her. "And Blake's party?"

"Ron's semblance apparently pulled him out of danger," she decided, after a few moments' thought. "We do not need to worry about him."

"Out of danger or into danger?" Taiyang countered. "I think he appeared suddenly when the goliath made it into Kuchinashi. Are we sure that his semblance won't bring him back here?"

"Did his semblance remove him from Kuchinashi, once he appeared?" Winter asked the man.

"No..." Taiyang admitted.

"And are you certain that his vanishing wasn't his semblance returning him to wherever he had been, before appearing in the city?" Winter pressed.

"No..." he repeated.

"I understand your desire to not abandon a comrade," Winter told him. "But there are times that altruism can become self-defeating. You seem incapable of understanding this."

"You have no idea," Raven grumbled.

"Okay, we're going back to the city," Taiyang conceded. "But can we at least scout the location where Blake's party was going to confront Tauras? At the very least, Colonel Arvaken is going to need to know if the White Fang has been splintered, or is stronger than ever."

"You have an irritating ability to make altruism look like logical duty," Winter scowled at him.

"Again, you have no idea," Raven grumbled once more.

"Very well!" Winter decided. "We keep off the main road and we'll edge by the dale's location." She projected an image of the map above her scroll. We are not going to go into the hollow itself, but we will try to determine what is occurring inside. Let's move out!"

Winter led her team away from the point where they had scattered the goliaths, up a slope and down to where they had left the patrol. She let the soldiers know that the mission had been a success, understanding that achievement was a vital component of morale. Moments later, Raven was out forward as a scout, Taiyang was behind them as a rearguard and the soldiers were in a small-unit combat formation, moving at a brisk trot. Winter continually moved through the formation, judging the fitness and stamina of each individual under her command. For twenty minutes, they made excellent time until her scroll buzzed with a call from Raven.

"There's a large group of faunus under attack by grimm," the bandit reported. "They're fighting their way out of the hollow, but they're hard pressed. We can escape to the city while the grimm and the faunus are concentrating on each other."

"And turn our backs on potential allies," Taiyang's whispered voice sounded over the device, prompting Winter to note that Raven had made a conference call between the three. "If we leave them behind, we strengthen Tauras' position within the organization."

Winter ground her teeth; she had no desire to get sidetracked and was certain that Taiyang was, once again, spinning the situation so that following his infuriating altruism would sound like fulfilling her mission. Yet, a good officer looked beyond her own mission to the larger goal that her mission supported. The goal was to protect Kuchinashi from attack and it appeared that the grimm had forced the faunus, White Fang and otherwise, to admit that all humanity had a common foe.

"We evacuate the faunus to Kuchinashi," she decided.

"You've been listening to Taiyang," Raven concluded.

"Just assist them until we get there!" Winter snapped at the older woman. Raising her voice to those around her, she ordered. "We have civilians under attack from grimm. Some of the civilians are fighters, others are not. We will escort as many as possible to the safety of the city."

Most of the soldiers simply nodded their acceptance,

Without a verbal command, she picked up her pace towards the sounds of combat now noticeable ahead of her. The squad of soldiers had been well-trained, breaking into a staggered line with two rear-guards as they followed their trail around a wide trail and spotted a small horde of grimm attacking a band of perhaps sixty faunus. Winter ordered her squad into action while examining the folk she was seeking to rescue. While there were a few White Fang uniforms among them, most seemed to be civilians, although most of them bore shields and a form of shocking staff. With a few, terse commands, Winter ordered her troops into action.

Again, the soldiers were well trained and knew their foe. When fighting their fellow man, they would separate into two teams and bound, one team moving while the other team fired, whether advancing or retreating. When fighting grimm, they again split into two teams, with one team engaging the grimm as close to the faunus as they safely could, while the other team engaged the grimm that were approaching from farther away. Within several minutes, the grimm in the immediate area were eliminated, although growls, roars and heavy crashing in the near distance informed Winter that more grimm would soon be in place.

"Medics, see to the wounded," Winter commanded her troops.

The sergeant in charge of the soldiers was a capable man, quickly sending two pickets out while the remainder of the soldiers saw to the injured. Winter spotted Blake and made her way to speak with the younger woman. On the way, Taiyang and Raven joined her, while Blake's parents and Sun joined Blake.

"It would appear that you have wrested the White Fang away from Adam Tauras," Winter said, as way of greeting.

"Not exactly," Blake corrected her. "It got violent. We started fighting and it drew in the grimm. Adam and most of his faction managed to get clear but we wouldn't leave our wounded behind."

"Chained to a burden," Raven noted. "Your tender heart puts the rest of you at risk."

"And saves those who she's committed to defend," Taiyang countered.

"Enough, you two!" Raven snapped at her employees. "We're getting this group to safety. Blake, go through your people, find the best fighters and arm them. Have your weaker fighters assist your wounded."

"We've accomplished our mission," Raven pointed out. "And there are sheep in among the goats...maybe even literally."

An angry grumble sounded from the faunus close enough to hear the discussion.

"Enough of your attitude!" Winter snapped at her. "If you want your payment, you're going to need me to return to Kuchinashi with you and I'm not returning without these people. Our mission has changed, we'll get everyone safely inside the walls!"

"Fine!" Raven snapped back. "I'll act as a scout!"

For a moment, Winter swore she saw a smug look pass between Raven and Taiyang, but she quickly dismissed it. It was time for action and organization. Working with Blake, Ghira, Kali and Sun, she quickly organized the faunus; burly or strong folk assisted the wounded in the center of the column, surrounded by the better fighters. She detailed folk with great endurance, in pairs, to travel well away from the column and provide warning that grimm were approaching the group. Raven volunteered to keep between the moving column and the point of the skirmish, on the most likely route that grimm would approach. As she trotted off, Winter paired up the best fighters and instructed them to work their way up and down the column, ready to rush to any point under attack.

"Wait a minute!" Sun snapped his fingers. "Where's Ron?"

"He vanished during our skirmish with Cinder," Winter informed him. "We waited several minutes for him to reappear, but he did not so we left."

"You didn't wait for him any longer that that?" He demanded. "What if he comes back injured, or in the middle of a pack of grimm?"

"We could not wait any longer!" Winter snapped at him. "He actually appeared in Kuchinashi during our skirmish with the goliaths, so it is very likely he returned there, or to wherever he was before that. We have no way of knowing and could not endanger our mission by waiting any longer."

"But..." Sun started to protest, but Blake caught his arm and pulled him away. With that distraction out of the way, Winter got the column moving. However, another issue was bothering her.

"Will Raven actually return to us?" She asked Taiyang, who she had paired off with, as they covered the right side of the slow-moving group.

"Of course," he shrugged. "She never turns away from a debt she's owed, and Mistral owes her a fair sum of lien."

"Will she be safe on her own?" While Winter didn't much care for the bandit, she was under her command and was therefore her responsibility.

"As safe as we are," Taiyang's voice indicated real concern. "She's tough and slippery, but I don't have to tell you that the grimm are a big unknown. All said, she's probably better off doing what she is and before you ask, she'll do what she claimed she will. Say what you will about her, she's no liar."

Winter considered this as she and her companion walked a long lap around the column. She had heard enough of Raven's 'the strong survive' belief to realize that the bandit would see no need to lie. The bandit was valuable enough that she saw no need to be deceptive in her actions, she simply did what her skewed view of the world told her was the correct action. Right now, Raven wanted money, probably to form a new bandit tribe, and would trade her fighting ability for it.

Her musings were interrupted by a call from the bandit she had just been thinking about.

"Four minor grimm," Raven's calm voice reported. "I'll engage and draw any additional ones away as best I can."

The line went dead before Winter could respond, and she didn't want to distract the other woman by calling.

"She's good for her word," Taiyang repeated. "She can either handle, outrun or avoid any grimm that come her way and she'll be able to draw some of them away from us. There are a lot of negative emotions in this group but if anyone has a skill at hating, it's Raven."

Reassured and disturbed at the same time, Winter continued to circle the column. Soon, a call came in from one of the out-runners

"Three...no, make that seven grimm!" The young man reported. "They're more than we can handle!"

"There's no shame in that!" She told him. "Get back here! Now we know where they're coming from!"

With a nod, she directed Taiyang to follow her through the column, to where the grimm would approach. Ghira and Kali, who were close by, quickly joined them.

"Do we even need to ask?" The big chieftain asked her.

"Grimm incoming from this direction," Winter confirmed. "Blake, Sun, stay on the other side of the column in case more come while we're busy over here!"

She could say no more, as her out-runners burst from the woods and into sight. Several beowolves were close on their heels. Most of the nearby faunus proved that they were also trained, when they formed into a shield wall with their staffs extended.

"Snipers, take the beowolves off of the runners' backs!" Winter snapped.

In response, one of her soldiers dropped into a kneeling position, took careful aim, and fired a shot into the lead creature's hips. While the dust round didn't kill the creature, it caused it to drop and those right behind it tripped and fell over it.

"Marksmen, take them out!" Winter commanded.

The handful of faunus who had firearms shot into the mass, inflicting injury, dropping grimm, and expending a great deal of ammunition for the results they obtained. Kali surprised Winter by taking careful aim with a pistol, waiting until one of the beowolves pulled itself clear of the flailing pack, then landing two quick shots to its center of mass. The creature fell, reminding Winter to not judge capability by appearance. However, the few creatures left were now getting close. Since there were only three, Winter decided to see how the recruits handled a close assault.

"Shield wall, advance to meet the grimm! Marksmen, scan the treeline and engage distant targets!" She shouted, her voice loud yet calm. "Trained warriors, engage any that break through!"

The faunus and her soldiers obeyed. The oncoming grimm were met by several shocking staffs, which left the creatures twitching on the ground. Only one managed a claw swipe before being incapacitated. The blow struck a solid shield, which was braced by a couple more shields, and did no harm. With the foe helpless on the ground, three of the recruits pulled cleavers from their belts and dispatched the beowolves.

"Get the column moving again!" Winter ordered. "We need to get the wounded to Kuchinashi!" She then looked at the out-runners, who were panting from their sprint. "Do I have more swift-foots to volunteer to provide security?"

Two faunus recruits, a young man and young woman, left their ranks and approached her. Winter decided that they must have some sort of canine aspect, as their noses and mouths formed muzzles. She hoped that they had a canine's endurance, as well.

"Leave your shields behind," she told them. "You're not fighters, you're our eyes and ears. Do you have a scroll?"

The young man nodded and held up the device, allowing Winter to read his contact code.

"Get out far enough that you can see them coming, but keep the column in sight," she instructed. "Your mission is to report approaching danger, and to survive! If more trouble than you can handle comes your way, call me and get out of there! If you have any doubts about your ability to handle it, report and run. We don't need brave fighters out there, we need nervous, skittish runners! Do you understand?"

Both faunus nodded, then looked to Ghira. The big chieftain nodded at them and they were off to cover the column's flank.

"Your recruits are well trained in group combat," Taiyang commented to Ghira and Kali, as the fighters returned to their place along the column.

"We didn't have time to make them warriors," Ghira replied. "So we did our best to make them soldiers. I'm sure a company of Mistralean Regulars would beat them, but for only two weeks of training, I'm proud of them."

"They're more than adequate against grimm," Taiyang agreed.

Winter noted that the recruits close by straightened their soldiers just a touch and carried their shields and weapons a little higher. Kali set course slightly away from the column, drawing the other three with her. Once they were far enough away that they could speak without being overheard, the cat faunus gestured towards the woodlands farther away.

"That was a smart move," she told Taiyang. "Hearing praise from a stranger, from a human, put more heart in those who heard you and the word will spread to the others."

"It wasn't idle praise," Taiyang pointed first to where Kali had, then towards the direction the column was traveling.

"But you still intended it to hearten my folk," Ghira concluded. He pointed towards the treeline on the other side of the column. "You've had experience with keeping morale up."

"I'm a teacher," Taiyang told him, scratching his chin as if he were in deep thought.

Suddenly understanding, Winter pointed back the way the column had come. "Your people are loyal to you," she told the chieftain. "The two who went out to scout would not follow my orders until you approved."

"They have no reason to trust humans, especially a Schnee," Ghira told her. He smiled at Winter's momentary, surprised look. "No, nobody told them your name, but your family is well known to our race. Deserved or not, you have a very bad reputation with my folk."

"I see that you picked up why we are gesturing," Kali told her. "Did you notice the subtle manipulation your companion used?"

Winter gave Taiyang a hard look.

"Not him," Ghira chuckled. "The woman...Raven."

Now Winter gave the big man a suspicious look.

"By making a very racist statement, knowing you would correct her, she identified you as a non-racist to everyone near you," Taiyang offered her a smug grin. "She took the label onto herself, so you'd have a little credibility. I suggest you keep her away from the recruits once we get to Kuchinashi; there may be some offended youth who want to teach her the proper attitude. If they do, things could get messy."

Winter kept this brewing at the back of her mind as she and Taiyang continued their circuit of the column. While there were several more grimm attacks, one that saw her and Taiyang eliminate a deathstalker, her mind kept returning to Raven's act. This prompted her to consider how Raven and Taiyang seemed to team up to glean from Ron the fact that he was from another planet, even though the younger man was trying to avoid admitting it. It seemed that while you could take Raven and Taiyang out of Team STRQ, it was harder to take Team STRQ out of the two.

"Taiyang," she addressed the man, after the two of them had dispatched a pair of attacking ursa, and were momentarily out of earshot of anyone else. "Is Raven prejudiced against faunus?"

"No," he answered immediately. "For her, a follower is a follower and a victim is a victim, regardless of race. It doesn't matter who you are to her, just your value to her tribe, your threat to her tribe, or what her tribe can gain by robbing you."

"So why did she accept the animosity of the nearby faunus by making an insulting remark, just for me to rebuke her?"

"Because it helped the mission," he shrugged. "She's all about getting the job done; if she comes out of it a hero or villain doesn't matter to her, only the results."

"You sound as if you admire her and despise her at the same time!"

"I do," he shrugged again. "She's a complex person; passionate and dedicated to what matters to her, but completely immoral and uncaring to anyone and anything that doesn't."

"And because completing the mission means that the faunus must have a reason to trust me, she maneuvered me into reprimanding her for a bigoted attitude."

"Almost," he told her. "Her getting her money requires that the mission is completed. Completing the mission means maneuvering you into showing that you won't put up with an anti-faunus attitude. That gave the faunus at least a little reason to trust you. After that, it was up to you."

Now it was Taiyang's words that Winter contemplated, whenever she had the time. Fortunately, those times were rare as more and more grimm closed on the slow-moving column. When she wasn't organizing the defense, fighting grimm, or rotating the personnel under her control to keep them fresh and moving, she was usually updating Colonel Arvaken on the situation. It was when they were closing in on the city that Raven called in.

"I've got a major grimm horde incoming!" She reported. "Three dozen at least and I haven't been able to turn them. They're coming right up your back-trail!"

"Pick up the pace!" She snapped at the column. "Fighters to the rear! We've got grimm coming up behind us!"

As the faunus scrambled to follow her orders, she reported the situation to the colonel. By the time she was done, most of the fighters were at the rear of the group and the city walls were in site. To her relief, the nearest gate opened to disgorge two full companies of Mistralean soldiers. The troops ran by the faunus and took up positions facing to the rear. Two groups assembled crew served weapons while the rest took up firing positions.

"Major Schnee, get your people inside!" One of the soldiers, a fellow major by his uniform, yelled at her. "We'll engage the grimm."

"I still have scouts out there!" Winter yelled back. Despite her objection, she waved the column forward. The faunus picked up their pace despite their exhaustion. Winter keyed her scroll and roared for all of the out-runners to come to safety. She then took up a position in the center of the Mistralean soldiers.

"Major Schnee, your mission is to get the column to safety," the officer reminded her.

"And I have personnel still out there!" She pointed out. "I don't go in until all of my personnel are safe!"

Any arguments were interrupted by a nevermore, sweeping in low towards the Mistralean blocking force. The soldiers unleashed a volley of dust rounds, which had very little effect on the large creature. It focused its attention on Winter, who responded by pulling her saber to confront it, certain that she was about to die...when one of the crew-served weapons opened up. While the gunner's aim wasn't perfect, it was effective enough; hitting a wing joint and causing the monster to veer off course. When it crashed to Remnant, Taiyang was slightly ahead of Winter, grabbing its good wing and pulling the appendage away from its body, giving the major a clear shot at its neck.

It took several strikes, even though she pirouetted to give her slashes more power, but she managed to cut through something vital. The creature started to dissolve and Winter turned back to the blocking force in time to hear them open fire again. Looking back the way her party had just come, she saw the six faunus that comprised her scouting parties, with grimm closing on them. The Mistraleans were carefully aiming their fire, dropping those grimm that were most likely to catch the scouts.

"Alpha team, prep for close quarters," the Mistralean Major ordered is troops. "Bravo team, continue engaging the close targets. Crew-served weapons, light up the grimm farther out."

Winter now saw that more and more grimm were emerging from the distance farther away. It was this horde that the crew-served weapons engaged while roughly half of the soldiers continued to fire upon the grimm closest to the faunus. The other half fixed bayonets, which started to glow with either heat or static electricity, and stood by.

Moments later, her scouts rushed by the soldiers. Winter didn't hesitate, decapitating a beowolf that was just about to hamstring the last of the scouts. Taiyang took the next one, swatting a fore paw out of his way and driving a knee into the throat of the lunging grimm. Around the two hunters, the soldiers fought with bayonets and while they weren't terribly effective at hand-to-hand combat with the larger creatures, their armor kept them from sustaining lethal wounds. Winter and Taiyang rushed among them, slaying the more powerful grimm and assisting the humans who were the most hard pressed.

"Evacuate the wounded!" The Mistralean Officer commanded. "Major Schnee! Get inside and rejoin your command! We have things under control!"

"I still have one woman out there!" Winter protested.

"Don't worry about her!" Taiyang roared. "She's probably already in the city! You heard the man, move!"

Winter did not like the idea of taking an order from Taiyang, but she was practical enough to admit that he knew what he was talking about. Without a word, she scooped up one of the Mistralean soldiers who had been wounded in the short, hand-to-hand skirmish and rushed for the city at her best pace. She was more than a little irritated that Taiyang picked up a larger soldier and quickly caught up to her. Gritting her teeth again, she picked up the pace and kept up with him until they reached the gates of Kuchinashi. There, she saw a standoff.

After having been attacked by the White Fang, Kuchinashi's defenders were understandably nervous about having a large group of armed faunus rush into their city. The faunus were understandably nervous about dropping their weapons in front of armed humans. The tension was building when Winter arrived, set her passenger down and stalked in between the two groups. Before she could speak, Colonel Arvaken arrived.

"Okay," he informed everyone. "We have ambulances standing by. We're all tense, but will everyone agree to have our medics start treatment on the wounded?"

Ghira waved to his people and, to Winter's great relief, they stood down slightly. Several medics began to evaluate the wounded.

"Now, how about we discuss a common enemy?" The colonel suggested. "We're expecting another major grimm attack in the upcoming days...or even hours. If the grimm overrun this city, you will all be in as much danger as the residents. Those who wish will be integrated into our defense. Those who do not wish to assist in the defense of this city will need to turn in your weapons."

"I'll join in the defense!" A burly young man, wearing the White Fang uniform and sporting a ram's horns announced. "But not if some human is going to use me as battle fodder!"

"Very well," the colonel addressed him. "I understand that the group I see before me was fighting among itself just a few hours ago. Each of you who decide to fight for Kuchinashi will have a choice; you can either form your own company under Ghira Belladonna's command, or you can join the defense force."

The muttering among the faunus became more thoughtful than angry. While several members of Adam's faction separated and joined the Mistraleans, and a couple turned in their weapons, almost all of the faunus chose to stand with Ghira.

"So everyone has decided," the colonel noted. "Very well, Mr. Belladonna, my assistant will guide you to the quarters we have prepared for your company. While they are hardly luxurious, they are the best we could come up with on short notice. I will meet with you shortly, to come up with the best way to integrate your forces into our defense."

Ghira nodded and waved for the faunus to follow him.

"I'll stay with the wounded," the belligerent young man with ram's horns declared. "That way, there won't be any mysterious deaths while our brothers are under a human's care!"

"You will..." Ghira roared, only to be interrupted by Colonel Arvaken.

"Mr. Belladonna," the officer kept his voice calm, even when it was loud enough to be heard over the big man's enraged yell. "While discipline within your company is your business, I can assure you that the Kuchinashi medical profession welcomes observation. We have nothing to hide."

Ghira visibly struggled with a towering rage, but managed to calm himself. "Understand this," he rumbled at the young man. "I will allow you to accompany the wounded, but I will be specifically questioning everyone who is treating our them. If there are any reports of you being abusive, if there is so much as a suggestion that you were disrespectful, the consequences for you will be severe. Do you understand me?"

The young man could only nod nervously at his chieftain.

"Form up and follow me!" Ghira bellowed. The faunus managed to organize themselves into several rough rows and marched after their leader, who was following Colonel Arvaken's assistant.

"Major Schnee," the colonel now addressed the Atlesian. "I will observe the covering force's return to the city. After which, I will take your report in my office. I wish your teammates to be present, as well."

"Yes sir," Winter saluted.

Colonel Arvaken returned the gesture, but he was clearly distracted by his forces still outside of the walls. He quickly found his way out of the gate so that he could observe the action directly. Winter chose to keep close to the wounded, both to render what assistance she could and to make sure that there would be no incidents between faunus and human.

"If you're going to be here, you might as well be useful," a doctor, who was with the ambulances, told the man with the ram horns. He was examining a man with deep bite and claw wounds to his lower legs. "What is his faunus trait?"

"What does it matter to you!"

"It alters the diagnosis and the treatment," the doctor sighed. "Look, you have an obvious trait but I'm assuming that you also have a reinforced scull. If I were to see an image scan of your scull without knowing you had horns, I could very well come to the conclusion that you had a concussion in the past. Now, could you tell me his trait?"

"He's an antelope faunus," the angry young man was much suddenly a little less belligerent. "He doesn't have any visible trait, but he can run for hours."

"Excellent," the doctor nodded. "He probably has enhanced musculature and lung capacity. While the lung modification won't have any impact on treating his wounds, we will need to take extra care when stitching his deep tissue damage...if we want him to continue to be able to run for hours." He downloaded information to a small chip, affixed it to the casualty's clothing, and waved for a couple of attendants to load him into an ambulance.

"Now, young man," the doctor led the increasingly less antagonistic faunus to the next casualty. "We can see that the young lady here has a rabbit's ears. Young Miss, are you capable of moving your ears to track sounds?"

"Y-yes," the girl was clearly nervous to be around a human.

"Okay," the doctor's voice was kindly as he examined the cut on the side of her head. "We'll have to take this into account. Certain muscles under your scalp are more developed, and more vital to you, than someone who doesn't have these ears. We don't want you to lose your abilities."

Winter's attention was diverted from the ongoing diagnosis; as well as a certain young man's education, by the relief force returning.

"No additional casualties," the colonel told her. "The grimm that were pursuing you have been eliminated, but I suspect that our enemy will reorganize and make another try. If the two of you will accompany me..."

The commander had taken one of the privileges of his rank and had a staff car nearby. Winter and Taiyang climbed in for the short ride to the headquarters. While Winter was shocked to see that Raven was waiting for them, she did her best to conceal her surprise. She noted that Taiyang didn't react in the slightest. If the colonel was surprised, he didn't let it show. He simply waved for Raven to join them and led the way to his office.

"I took advantage of the delay you generated," he told them, now waving at some chairs while he took his seat behind his desk. "I have acquired some more airships, equipped with high powered optics. One is currently tracking Cinder while two more are patrolling in an arc outside the city. I have also had remote cameras installed along likely routes of approach. Cinder seems to have regained control of the remaining goliaths and has moved them to a position roughly four hours' travel away from here. She is not moving at this time, but additional grimm seem to be converging on her location."

Winter had not been asked for a comment, so she remained silent. Raven and Taiyang were experienced hunters and saw no need to speak.

"At this moment, we are installing a couple of siege canon," the colonel continued. "And additional troops are arriving. However, I want to keep you here in case Cinder has somehow managed to adapt to the goliaths being afraid of the rodent."

"We don't have the rodent, sir," Winter informed him, repeating the earlier report that she had sent via scroll.

"Actually, we do," he smiled. "Mr. Stoppable appeared, in your sister's hospital room, shortly after he vanished from your location. While Miss Schnee is not exactly enthralled with the rodent, she is willing to carry him about the city and Rufus is willing to have her carry him into battle."

Silence answered him.

"Well?" He was honestly shocked. "Aren't you going to ask about her status?"

"It is not necessary for my duties," Winter reminded him. "Although I will admit to a great deal of concern."

"She's been released from the hospital and has volunteered to help the defense. The doctor has suggested that she not get involved in melee, but she'll be fine to carry the rat."

"There's something you haven't discussed yet," Raven interrupted. "While I'm willing to put in some more time, I'm also interested in the payment owed me. The way I figure it, we've already gone above and beyond the terms of our employment."

"You have," the commander agreed, although his expression wasn't as friendly as it had been towards Winter. He poked a few buttons on his scroll. "I have just transferred you payment for services rendered, as well as a contract for an additional couple of days."

"I'd appreciate the same thing," Taiyang told him.

"I'm honestly surprised that you have this attitude," Colonel Arvaken told him. "I had heard that your motivations were more selfless."

"How convenient," Taiyang managed to keep a smile on his face, but his tone told everyone that he was hardly good company at the moment. "Praising altruism after the service has been rendered, not before the terms were agreed to. Colonel, I've learned that altruism doesn't accomplish very much. I'm not shaking you down; we agreed on a price for service. I provided the service and I now want the wage we agreed to. I'm willing to continue employment with you, but not just for the good feeling I get for serving others."

The colonel gave him a long look; it wasn't an angry glare, but rather a look that mixed concern and curiosity.

"I agree," he finally told the teacher. "You now have the lien in your account, as well as an agreement for an additional couple of days."

"Which I'll accept," Taiyang assured him. "Now, do you have anything else for me?"

"No," the colonel told him. "You've earned some down time. Remain in the city, you'll be contacted by scroll if you're needed."

"Thank you," Taiyang rose and turned towards the door.

"How about me?" Raven asked.

"The same. Rest up and get ready. The next crises could come in a few more hours, several hours, or even a couple of days."

Winter watched the two exit; they left at the same time but showed no inclination to remain together after leaving. She allowed herself a few moments to consider this, then returned her attention to the colonel. The sooner she finished her duties, the sooner she could check on her sister.

But before she spoke to Weiss, she needed to have a word with Raven.

* * *

Evening fell over the remnants of BatiKiyisi.

There shouldn't be anything special about this happening; Remnant rotated and turned the shattered city away from the sun, as it had for millions of years and would continue to do so for millions more. There was nothing special about this evening...except one detail.

Ruby and Jaune would be leaving for Mistral City in the morning.

" _It shouldn't be this important,_ " Ruby thought, running a brush through her hair. " _I should be acting like a professional huntress by now. It's just a mission that I've successfully completed. It's time to move on and take care of other issues. I shouldn't be this excited and sad at the same time._ "

She was excited because she was going back to her friends and family. Nora, Ren, Weiss, Yang, her father and her uncle were all somewhere in the Kingdom of Mistral. Once she was there, she would be able to speak to all of them; even if they weren't meeting face-to-face, she would be able to direct dial using the Haven Tower.

She was also excited to get back to a kingdom. Although she was capable of living on the road and with such goods and services that the communities between the kingdoms could provide, for an extended length of time, it didn't mean that she enjoyed doing so. As much as she thought of herself as being self-sufficient, she couldn't make her own ammunition and her skills at sewing could only take her so far. Normally, the shops in BatiKiyisi would have been able to repair her clothing, her boots and her other gear for her, but the town was only a shadow of its former self at this moment. Her possessions needed major repair and, in some cases, replacement. Getting back to Mistral would mean having access to these services again, which would mean becoming more capable. With a smile, she realized that the government owed her a substantial sum of lien for her services, so at least a minor shopping spree was in order.

Her smile faded. She was sad because the job wasn't finished. As much as she told herself that it would take months, perhaps years before BatiKiyisi was a functioning community again; as much as she told herself that she had done more than her fair share and that it was time to rotate out and let more hunters and students in to take over, she was leaving before the job was done. There were people here that she had come to know; the elderly man who prepared meals for them and his wife who did their laundry, the engineer from Atlas who was building functional water and sewage systems and the veterinarian that had been serving as a doctor. She would be returning to a kingdom's main city, and the comforts and conveniences to be found there, while they remained to overcome the difficulties to be found here. She wasn't abandoning them, but it sure felt like it.

She chided herself gently about the negative thoughts. This was no time to feel down, there was a party to go to! Yesterday, Flynt managed to find other musicians among the survivors and the incoming students. They had rehearsed and practiced every spare minute that they could find and, with the town elders' consent, were putting on a party tonight. Okay, it definitely wasn't going to be the Beacon Dance, but there would be sugary snacks and drinks to take care of her sugar deprivation. There would be a movie, games, singing and dancing. While she wasn't exactly down for all of the activities, it would be fun and something _different_.

Satisfied with her appearance, she left the ladies room and made her way back to the alcove she shared with Neon, Flynt and Jaune. She paused outside of their door...really just a sheet.

"Jaune, are you decent in there?" While all of them were always careful to only disrobe in the bathrooms, they were also polite to each other.

"I think I'm decent wherever I am," his voice answered.

Smirking, Ruby pulled the sheet to one side and walked in. Jaune had recently started to joke more, his own effort to keep spirits up. While she stowed her shower kit in her pack, she noted that his clothing had been washed and ironed...the ironing was a futile gesture, as BatiKiyisi was still a danger zone and he wore his armor whenever he was out of the barracks. Still, his hair had been combed to the point that it was only semi-messy, which was a major change for him. All in all, she had to admit that he looked...good.

"Well, are you ready to go?" She asked him, knowing that there was a little heat rising to her cheeks. "Flynt said that we'd make people feel better by showing up."

"Even if we aren't the picture of sophisticated elegance" he smiled, although she could tell it was a little forced. With a grand, mocking gesture he offered his arm. With a giggle, she placed her hand on his forearm and the two left the barracks for the short walk to what was now the town hall; but had once been a warehouse, for the party.

She had to admit that they didn't exactly cut the glamorous figures that some of the characters in Blake's books had during formal events. Her blouse and combat skirt were good enough, she supposed, but her stockings were a mishmash of runs and stitches. Her hood was ragged and Crescent Rose, connected to the magnetic clip at her back, poked out from under it. While Crocea Mors and his armor made Jaune a bit more of the dashing type, his patched and stitched jeans didn't look exactly regal.

All in all, they looked like a couple of ragged teens that were dressing up as best they could to attend the closest thing that BatiKiyisi could throw for a party. It was a far cry from even the Beacon Dance, when Teams RWBY and JNPR were ragged teens dressing up well for a formal party at a major hunters' academy. One thing Ruby didn't miss about that dance was stumbling on her heels. It was ironic that now, with stable footing provided by her boots, she actually had an arm to grab to steady herself.

Upon reaching the town hall, Jaune opened the door for her and she stepped inside to find the large, open space actually crowded. Flynt and the band he had cobbled together were warming up on a makeshift stage at one end. Along one wall, several tables were covered with food and drink while the other wall sported several dart boards and a couple of pool tables. A low buzz of conversation met her ears as the townsfolk chattered among themselves. Those closest to the door greeted the young pair, prompting the two students to spend the next several minutes in conversation with the locals they had been protecting. It wasn't long before the praise for her assistance and fighting abilities had Ruby's cheeks flaming. Looking over at Jaune, she noticed that his cheeks were also colored...but here was a little bit of a grimace behind his smile.

Before she could consider this, Flynt played a bright melody, catching everyone's attention.

"Okay everyone," he announced to the suddenly quiet room. "I'd like to thank you all for coming here. You good folks from BatiKiyisi have been through some hard times and you're still down, but you've proven that you're not out. Those of us that have shown up; the relief workers and student hunters, are amazed at how much you've refused to stay down, and we want to get to know you all better. We're throwing this party to celebrate life, to celebrate the fact that this town is being rebuilt and will come back. Let's all get together, accept the bad in the past and look forward to the joy that can happen in the future, if we make it that way! Now, for the first number, y'all just sit back and let us entertain you."

Polite applause sounded throughout the building as the band broke into their first number. While Ruby didn't really follow music, she could tell that the makeshift band was playing a simple, but lively, number. However, the music wasn't the only entertainment, as Neon suddenly rolled out of the crowd and started a performance that was part dance and part rollerblading exhibition, and went well with the music. While the floor wasn't as flat and even as the Beacon dance floor had been, it was close enough for Neon.

Ruby, much like everyone else, could only stand and stare, mesmerized by Neon's display of agility and grace. The lithe faunus zipped about the open floor, twirling and pirouetting in a joyous abandon. Wherever she went, a rainbow streamed in her wake and she made use of this, crossing back across her wake so that the rainbow interacted with itself in a burst of color. She finished her routine with first an inward spiral, and then a spin that left what appeared to be a solid wall of shimmering color around her. When she finished her routine, along with the song, the applause was loud but not very long. Flynt started another tune very quickly, one that Ruby had heard in dozens of villages and towns across Anima. Going with an impulse, she grabbed Jaune's hand and pulled him out onto the dance floor.

While she still wasn't much of a dancer, she had gone through some steps with her Team RNJR companions. She had also seen so many people dancing to songs almost identical to the one Flynt's band was playing that she was able to dance without making a complete fool out of herself. Jaune, on the other hand, was a very good dancer and adapted to her. She actually enjoyed herself and kept the blonde out on the floor for a couple of songs before they made their way to the food tables, where she loaded up on sugar-laden treats and drink. Finding a table, the two sat down and dug in while watching the people still on the dance floor.

"Where are Neptune, Sage and Scarlet?" Jaune asked her.

"I think they volunteered to stay on guard during the party," she told him. "Neptune was saying something about letting the townsfolk see the newest students and letting us have some time off."

Jaune looked troubled about this.

"Jaune, you can't keep working yourself like you have," she told him. "I know you've been helping with the cleanup and rebuilding when you're not fighting, and that's noble of you. But you're pushing yourself past your limits."

"I can't help but think that if Torchwick hadn't fooled me, we would have stopped all of this."

"We've been over this before," she reminded him. "We all got fooled by a master criminal, who's been fooling entire kingdoms for years. Besides, if we hadn't been fooled, we might have been caught in the explosion. From what we've learned, he had a White Fang fanatic set it off when the air fleet was overhead. Do you really think that he wouldn't have set if off if we were about to seize it?"

"I know," he murmured. "It's just that I can't help but think..."

"You saw a tragedy and are beating yourself up over how you could have stopped it, but there's no way that you could have," she interrupted him. "I do the same thing. Jaune, we can only do our best and work to make that best better. We didn't destroy this city, but we didn't turn our backs when they needed help, either."

"Thanks, Ruby," he told her, after a short time to think about her words. "Since when did you get so wise about things?"

"Since Winter gave us so much grief over the communication device!" She growled. "She had no right..."

Jaune's tap on her hand made her stop. The boy looked meaningfully around him and she realized that this was something that was best discussed away from folks. Grabbing the hand that had tapped hers, she got up and went outside, drawing him after her. She led him past the group of people who were shuffling around the door and towards the makeshift wall that protected the occupied sliver of the city.

"Winter had no right to jump on us for that," she continued, once she made sure that they were alone. "It was thinking about the grief that she gave us that made me realize that we weren't the ones who were doing all of this. We're just doing the best we can to help people and if that's not good enough for someone, they can just find someone else to do it! The folks here appreciate us."

"You're right," he nodded. "We can only do what we can do. Thanks again."

He gave her shoulder a light squeeze to emphasize his latest expression of gratitude, and Ruby found herself disappointed when he removed the hand. He leaned against the wall and looked around at the patched buildings that now made up the city. Still confused about her own feelings, Ruby followed suit. For all of her awkward emotions, it was a familiar, comforting scene. On the long walk across first Sanus and then Anima, they had stayed in dozens of smaller towns. There were dozens of times they had stood in the night, looking at the dim lights in the windows, hearing the music from wherever the locals gathered to socialize. In the dark, she couldn't see the cosmetic flaws that the locals hadn't had time to repair. It was easy to imagine that they were back in one of the other towns.

"Heading back to Mistral tomorrow," she noted, when the companionable silence started to feel just a little awkward.

"Yeah," he nodded. "It will be good to see Nora and Ren again. I mean, we know that Nora's healing up, but it will be good to actually see them." He paused for a moment. "Yang's in Mistral City and your dad and Uncle Qrow are in the kingdom, so it will be good to get you back to them, as well."

"It's still not home," she whispered back. "I so much want to be back in Beacon, or on Patch with Yang, dad and Uncle Qrow. As much as we've done, this isn't home."

"Ruby..." his hand found its way to her shoulder again.

"It's been months!" Now that she had allowed herself to think about it, she couldn't stop. She was fortunate; she was with friends and teammates, she was about to be reunited with her family, but even standing outside of a building full of people who had just had their homes devastated, she couldn't help but feel sorry for herself. "Is this what being a huntress is all about? To be on the road and away from home for so long that you can barely remember what it looks like?"

"I guess," Jaune told her, squeezing her shoulder as a sign of support.

Suddenly needing the comfort, she wrapped her arms around his waist. It wasn't comfortable resting her head against his chest-plate, but when his arms settled nervously around her shoulders she felt much better.

"Every time I turn around, I'm leaving another friend behind!" She sobbed. "Every time I go back to one friend, I'm saying goodbye to another!"

Jaune didn't have any words for her; not that any would do any good. Instead, he patted her back, which did more for her than any words could.

"Don't go anywhere," she finally manged to say. "Whatever you do, please don't leave me behind."

"Never," he promised. "I'm with you to the end."

Emboldened, she looked up. The dim lights from a dozen windows reflected off of his oh-so-blue eyes as he looked down at her. Nervously, hesitantly, he leaned down towards her and she found herself stretching, rising onto her toes to meet...

"Hey guys!" Neon's exuberant greeting made them both jump back a step. "There aren't many faunus around here, so I have watch tonight! I might not be clear by the time your ship leaves tomorrow, so I wanted to say my goodbyes now!"

As grouchy as Ruby was feeling, she just couldn't be mad at the girl, especially when the faunus was so clearly emotional as she was.

"Be safe," Neon told her, a catch in her voice as she gave Ruby a big hug. "You're just as super crazy awesome as your sister. I'm looking forward to partying with you sometime!"

"I will," Ruby assured her, hugging her back. "I'm not much of a party girl, so you'll just have to show me how."

"That's a deal!" Neon squealed at her.

"You be safe, too!" She instructed Jaune, now hugging him. "The two of you make a super crazy awesome team, so don't let her down."

"I won't," he promised her, giving her a gentle hug.

"I don't know when we'll run into each other again, so remember everything you do until we do. We'll all sit down and tell stories!" Wiping at her eyes, she rushed off before they could see her weep.

For what seemed like a long time, they stared into the dark where she had vanished. Ruby turned towards her companion.

"Jaune? Just before she showed up..."

"I...don't think that was a good idea," he blurted. "At least...not just yet."

"But..." She was confused.

"I...I still have to see Pyrrha's parents when we get back to Mistral," he told her. "I...I just don't..."

"It's okay," she assured him, although she felt anything but okay. "A promise is a promise. I'll come with you when you see them. I'm sure that Nora and Ren will, too."

"Thank you," he said, simply. "I...I think I'd like to be alone for a little bit."

Before Ruby could say anything, he slipped off along the wall. For a little while, she considered following him but was pretty sure that he was going to be drilling to Pyrrha's recording again. Ruby couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. After spending what seemed like a long time trying to decide, she gave up and returned to the party, wondering how life had become so complicated.

* * *

Life went on in Kuchinashi, despite the certain knowledge that the grimm were going to attack again. With the news that siege weapons and hunters were on their way to defend the city, the evacuation had halted to clear up train space for reinforcements. Those who were left in the city returned to their daily routines, as best they could.

Kuchinashi, much like Wind Path, was not so much subject to the capital city as it was allied with it. Mistral controlled a very large amount of territory, so the central government's control was never solid. So long as the good folks...and not so good folks...of the outlying areas paid their taxes and didn't create too much trouble, the ruling council was content to let them handle their own affairs. Yet, for all of their independence from the capital city, the folk of Kuchinashi were Mistraleans, and that meant that they had an almost fanatical respect for their land.

Kuchinashi rose from a settlement on a cliff-face, where living area was very limited. For that reason, the early settlers had been careful to not abuse what land was available. When their numbers grew and they expanded beyond the cliffs, even going so far as to found the two smaller cities, this care and respect had gone with them. As a result, even the lowest pickpocket and the most heartless assassin in the kingdom wouldn't dream of polluting or despoiling the land. This passionate desire to conserve the ecosystem meant that the folk of Kuchinashi had spent a great deal to create a highly efficient waste disposal system. Even the Kingdom of Atlas, technologically advanced, wealthy, and situated on the harsh, northern continent, couldn't match the cities in Mistral in this category.

However, dealing with wastes was still an unpleasant job that tended to fall to those who didn't have the skills or the status to do something more agreeable. In Kuchinashi, these folk were inevitably very low on the evacuation priority which had a curious effect on the city when the evacuation was reversed; the sewage and solid waste treatment infrastructure was fully staffed and functioning, even though the industrial and commercial operations were operating at only a fraction of their normal capacity. This was perhaps just as well, as the debris being cleared from the earlier White Fang attack was straining the capacity of the solid waste disposal systems.

As Winter Schnee sought to contact Raven Branwen, a crew at one of the solid waste collection points was nearing the end if its shift. For the workers, it was business as usual; garbage was brought in to be dealt with. Their job was to sort through the mess. Since the crew received a cut of the profits realized by selling anything that could be utilized, this was done with a great deal of precision. First, valuables were set aside. After that, metals were removed and sorted, followed by other materials that could be easily recycled into usable products. After that, the biodegradable material, which included some bodies from the White Fang attackers (and a murder victim that had been slipped in with them) were sent to a composting facility. After this sorting, very little was left, primarily inert stone and concrete.

Even this inert mass could be reused; it made capable fill mass for building sites, it could be crushed and used as aggregate. However, with the wall breached, most inert mass was earmarked for the repair effort. Thus, when a tired worker nearing the end of her shift, and looking forward to the stiff drink that she always had after work, came across a peculiar shaped lump of rock, she simply treated it like any other piece of inert material. She didn't note that it was shaped like a human heart and didn't realize that it gave off a slight, red glow.

She simply tossed the stone into a collection bin, where it was quickly covered by more inert material. Later, it would be hauled to the breach site.

* * *

 _A/N: As always, my thanks and appreciation to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment upon this humble offering. Even greater thanks and appreciation go to Joe Stoppinghem, for his beta reading._

 _Until the next update, best wishes:_

 _daccu65_


	37. Chapter 37

Raven Branwen hadn't exactly been happy to receive the call, asking to meet in an informal setting, from Winter Schnee. In her experience, there was no such thing as an informal meeting, especially between women such as the two of them. The two were polar opposites; she was a former, and future, bandit leader, who lived by her wits and strength. Winter was a puppet of the Atlas government, working at the beck and call of her superiors. The fact that Winter's superiors hated people like Raven, and that Winter never questioned them, meant that Raven was automatically suspicious of the officer.

Of course, Winter suggested a bar. Raven had rolled her eyes at the invitation; undoubtedly the Atlesian thought that she would feel more comfortable in such a setting. After all, she was a bandit so of course she got drunk at every opportunity. The beliefs that the military had about the bandits were so predictable and so foolish that Raven honestly wondered if there was room in an officer's head for brain cells that weren't devoted to drill and ceremony.

No, that was an incorrect assessment. Raven had to admit that Winter was a capable huntress; every bit as good as she had been at that age, maybe better. The bandit chief soothed the ego she had just bruised by telling herself that she would have been even better back then if she had the backing of the Atlesian Military Complex. She soothed her ego even more at Winter's shocked tone when she countered with a suggestion to meet at a tea room.

So now she waited for a woman that she really didn't like, to discuss a topic she was sure would irritate her to no end. She had suggested a place fairly close, with multiple entrances, and had given herself enough time to scout the immediate area. She had selected a table that allowed her to see anyone approaching the main entrance before they saw her, and was close to a small window. If this turned into an ambush, she would take two steps towards the back door, then dive through the window and form a portal to Yang.

Winter strode purposefully in through the front door and surveyed the facility for a few moments, her hands behind her back in a position of crisp, parade-rest. Upon spotting Raven, she gave the establishment another careful once-over before striding to the table.

 _"No ambush,"_ Raven concluded. _"Her eyes are on me, not scoping the surroundings for anything wrong. On the other hand, she might be a better actress than I was at that age..."_

The officer stopped at the table and offered a polite nod. Realizing that she was following some sort of cultured protocol, Raven gestured to the chair opposite her own, putting Winter's back to the rest of the customers. Winter offered her a ghost of a knowing grin, indicating that she was aware of the implications, before taking the chair. A server showed up and took her order, allowing Raven more time to study the other woman.

 _"She didn't straighten up before coming here,"_ the bandit noted. _"So she didn't return to her quarters before calling me. Whatever she wants to discuss, it's important to her."_

"Thank you for meeting with me," Winter started the exchange.

"You're paying," Raven shrugged. "But why don't I save both of us a great deal of time? Is this going to be the ' _someone with your skills is wasting her time as a bandit_ ' speech, the ' _keep your villainous activities away from my kingdom_ ' speech, or the ' _I'll give you a two week head start after this is all over, then I'm coming to hunt you down_ ' speech? I've heard them all, from people who have scared me a great deal more than you do. None of them will get me to do what you want me to."

Winter simply fixed her with a cold, yet calm eye while the server brought her tea and a plate of crumpets.

"I have no intention of giving you any of those speeches," Winter stated, once the server was safely out of earshot. "I also didn't picture you as the type that would patronize an establishment such as this."

"A bandit doesn't live long as a drunk," Raven told her. "It's a very rare person who I feel safe getting my wits befuddled around, and you're not on that short list. Now, I'm sure you didn't ask to speak to me just to question my choice in recreational activities. We're both tired, so why don't we get to the point?"

"I wish to learn about your semblance," Winter admitted.

"That's a fairly sensitive question."

"Only between strangers," Winter told her. "We're not friends, but we are comrades. We've shed blood and faced hardships together. Your semblance is neither embarrassing nor intimidating. I...have a certain curiosity about it."

"You're not the sort to be curious just for knowledge's sake," Raven noted. "You're either looking to gain an advantage with my semblance or you're looking for leverage on me. Fine, I'll play along! What do you want to know?"

"How do you locate your exit point?" Winter asked.

"I can create a portal to any point in my line of sight."

"It goes beyond that," Winter countered. "Your daughter spoke to my sister about the White Fang plot to breach Vale. You created a portal to a moving train, underground. You were able to home in on Yang even in highly variable conditions."

"Guilty as charged," Raven told her.

"Why?"

"I don't fully understand it, myself," she admitted.

"Is there anyone else that you can create a portal to?" Winter demanded. "No line of sight, just jump to wherever they may happen to be."

For a long moment, Raven simply stared at her, debating if she should answer or not. "My brother and Tai," she finally answered.

"Were you able to select these people?"

"No," Raven shrugged, observing Winter for any reaction. "In the past, I've wanted to reach all three of them, quickly. I haven't had luck with anyone else."

"You have a genetic link to your brother and daughter," Winter mused. "As for Tai..."

"He's the father of my daughter," Raven rolled her eyes. "And before you speculate, it wasn't some silly, 'oops, _tee-hee what did we just do_ ' moment. We knew what we were doing...as much as any idiot kids right out of the academy could."

"So you can create a portal to those you have an emotional link with, as well as genetic."

"I just told you, I don't know for sure but I've considered that this is how I can lock on to certain people," she paused another moment. "So why are you so interested in my ability to select my destination...and why now?"

"I was trying to determine what use..." Winter began.

"Ron!" Raven thumped a fist on the table before snapping her fingers. "He just popped in during the first skirmish with the goliaths, then popped out during the second, that's very similar to my ability! But you wanted to know my limitations on selecting destinations or targets..."

Raven watched the other woman, considering the implications, while Winter clamped her jaw shut.

"When he popped out, he reappeared in your sister's hospital room. That's two times that he showed up near her and you wanted to know just who I could target!" Now, Raven's face took on an expression of glee. "You're wondering just what sort of connection your sister and this...young man...have! If his semblance works the same way mine does, it's a very powerful, emotional one, but I wouldn't worry..."

She leaned across the table to offer Winter a mock-whisper. "At that age, it's always true love."

Winter could only grind her teeth and glare at Raven.

"I can target three people in this world," Raven commented, leaning back and chuckling at the officer's obvious discomfort. "One of them, I shared a womb with for nine months, another I held in my womb for the same amount of time and the third one put her there! So I wonder...what kind of bond has your sister and that boy developed?"

Winter couldn't meet her eyes.

"What are you so shook up about?" Raven mock-consoled her. "You should be happy for your sister...and yourself! If I understand your family situation correctly, you Schnee women are determined to regain the family honor; one through military service and the other as a huntress...and that your brother has no interest in such selfless pursuits. If you're going to maintain the family honor, one of you reputable women is going to have to pop out the next Schnee heir. Your sister may have taken the first step, relieving you of the burden!"

If Winter Schnee's eyes had even a fraction of the destructive power that Ruby Rose's silver eyes had, and they affected humans, Raven Branwen would have been fried to a crisp. Even a fresh-faced kid on his first raid could have seen the fury behind the officer's iron control. With exaggerated gentleness, Winter set her cup on its saucer. With exaggerated posture and grace, she rose her her feet, slid her chair into place under the table, and set sufficient lien at her setting to pay for the refreshments and a gratuity.

"I am quite finished," she managed to not snarl. "And I have affairs that require my attention."

"I bet," Raven snorted.

The bandit watched, her smile growing by the second, as Winter spun on her heel in a maneuver more suited to a parade ground than a tea house and strode purposefully outside. Shrugging her shoulders, Raven poured herself another cup of tea and grabbed Winter's crumpets. After all, they were paid for and it looked like she wasn't going to come back to claim her share. It was really quite foolish; if what Raven had implied had actually happened, a few minutes wasn't going to make any difference...and the tea and crumpets were excellent.

Finishing her snack, Raven sauntered out into the Mistralean evening. As was her habit, she scanned her surroundings for any threat. After all, she was a wanted bandit and she had insulted a large group of faunas, who were now in this city, while on the road. Smiling again, she realized that there was one place where she could let her guard down...as much as she ever did. Still scanning her surroundings, she set her course towards her quarters.

When Colonel Arvaken hired such hunters as were available to him, he didn't neglect human nature. Such hunters liked to unwind when they had a chance, and that meant at least minimal recreation facilities. As such, he had encouraged the owner of a nearby pub to remain in Kuchinashi and keep his establishment open during the siege. The hunters frequented the place and didn't tolerate unnecessary violence. She would be safe from any justice-seekers there and after her conversation with Winter, she felt like tossing down a stiff one or two.

The pub wasn't exactly an imposing place, but it was clearly well-maintained. The exterior was honest to what a patron found on the inside. Rather than fancy, the place was homey. There were several screens showing sporting events, news shows and comedies. Most of the offerings were recordings, with the kingdom under attack and the CCTS still limited, but the diversion was welcome. In one corner, a band had set up and was playing what Raven assumed to be currently popular music. Several tables had a handful of patrons; men and women with callouses and scars that gave her neutral looks as she entered. However, her eyes were drawn to the blonde man sitting at the bar.

"I didn't expect to see a teacher in such a place," she quipped. Raven stood next to him, leaning against the bar. "What will it do to your reputation?"

"I'm not a teacher right now, am I?" Taiyang took a solid pull at his mug, which held a very dark lager. Deciding that it looked good, Raven ordered one for herself.

"So, why do you have that smile on your face?" He asked. "It doesn't fit with the mighty chief of the Branwen tribe."

"I'm not a chief at the moment, just like you're not a teacher right now," she pointed out, lifting the fresh mug. It was some good stuff. "Let's just say that a certain stick-up-her-nether-regions officer just found out that her precious little sister might have besmirched the family name."

"None of my business," he grumbled.

"Of course," she rolled her eyes. "A boy scout like you would never do anything that might damage anyone's reputation, would he? Avoiding learning about such gossip is the best way to avoid repeating it." Shaking her head, she continued. "After you demanded your payment from the colonel, and seeing you bending the elbow here, I thought there might be some hope for you."

"Did you just come here to cause trouble?" He asked her. "'Cause I thought that you had outgrown that stupid crap." Now he shrugged his shoulders, "maybe murdering, robbing and kidnapping make a person grow childish."

"Oh, nice shot!" She snorted. "I think that's only the fourth or fifth time I've ever heard you throw an insult back at someone who was mocking you. You're surprisingly good at it."

"The false praise doesn't answer my question," he fixed her with a weary eye. "Why are you here? Did you just get leverage on someone and decide to get into a fight to celebrate?"

"Okay, enough this," she waved her hands. "I came in here to have a drink around folks who know violence isn't a good idea. What I found was a very grouchy man who's usually a poster boy for the sunny side of life. What's got you so wound up?"

"I just got word that my daughter is going to be returning to Mistral."

"I thought she was already there," Raven looked at him curiously.

"I said my daughter, not our daughter," Taiyang corrected her. "Ruby _does_ exist, you know."

"So I'm not seeing the problem," Raven shrugged. "Your girls are going to be together. Once this mission is done, you can go back and see both of them. Your happy family will be reunited."

"Yeah, my girls," he took a long pull at his mug before continuing. "My precious girls who have no problem running off across the world and leaving me behind with just a note. My precious girls who respect my drunken brother a whole lot more than they respect me."

"Were we any different at that age?"

"Strange that you're defending them," he snorted.

"I take it they're not your favorite people at the moment."

"I love them more than my life," he told her. "But they don't think that's worth very much. The next time I see my precious girls, I'm going to be telling them that I'm not going home."

"What?" Raven was honestly shocked.

"Ever since we graduated from Beacon, I've been the...caretaker, the one to provide the home for everyone to come to when they're not saving the world and need a bed and a meal. You and Qrow have both shown up at my place, beat up and hungry and I always took you in and what have I gotten out of it? An empty house! I thought my daughters would be better, but now that they're old enough to be manipulated into running all over the world on stupid quests, I'm alone again! I've had enough of being the innkeeper."

"So, you're going to go the route I suggested all those years ago?"

"I'm not ready to become a bandit," he objected. "But I'm not going back to the way I was. I'll earn my lien and move on."

"Going it alone is a rough way to do it," she pointed out.

"Do you really think that anyone will take up with me?" He shook his head bitterly. "Qrow is in the headmasters' camp, you're looking to set up your tribe again, and the younger generation is too smart to take up with me. After all, what use is a schoolteacher?"

"Some of us know your value," Raven told him. Then flinched for actually having said that. Taiyang just looked at her.

"It was never about your fighting ability!" She growled at him. "You have some strange attitudes about training and fighting, but they work for you. If you hadn't had your head so far up your own backside back then, you would have realized just how much Ozpin was manipulating us! I did, so I got out of there."

"To murder and rob," Taiyang challenged her. "That's not the life for me."

"It's the only one that makes sense!" She snarled at him. "As a bandit, you can always move on when it gets too hot somewhere. If you're a hired huntsman, you're obligated to complete each mission, even the suicide missions. If you're in a kingdom's employment, you're tied to the location. A bandit is free!"

"So where's your tribe?" He shot back. "Wiped out! I haven't heard of many bandits retiring to a happy life."

"Tribes come and go," her eyes flashed red for a moment. "But so do towns...so do entire kingdoms. The four kingdoms weren't always here and they won't be here forever. Out between them, there are ruins everywhere, remains of cities that people thought would last forever. The bandit tribes just rise and fall faster, that's all."

"I still won't make my lien by stealing it from others."

"That's a truth that you've never accepted," she shook her head. "Stealing, demanding payment, it's all the same! You're getting lien because you're stronger than the other person. Whether you take it from him or he gives it to you for fighting something else, it makes no difference!"

He just glared at her.

"Fine! I'll make you an offer. I still need more lien if I'm going to reform my tribe, so why don't we team up? After we finish this current contract, let's hit the road as wandering hunters. I promise that we won't do banditry, but I'll give you a look at what's to be found out there. I'll show you that the towns and kingdoms aren't always the pure and honest organizations you seem to think they are. I'll show you how it's always been the survival of the fittest and you'll have another chance to teach me your altruism."

"That...actually makes sense," Tai finally admitted, after finishing off his mug. "You've lost your tribe and I'm all alone, so we both must be doing something wrong. Maybe it's time that I realized that."

"I didn't think of it that way, myself," Raven admitted. She too, tossed back her mug, threw some lien on the bar, got to her feet and took Taiyang's hand.

"What?" He asked.

"We might as well get some rest," she told him. "If we're going to make it as wandering hunters, we don't want to be hung over during the last phase of the siege. Our reputation, and that means our income, is at stake."

For a long moment, Taiyang just looked first at her hand on his and then at her eyes. She could sense the gears spinning in his head, contemplating the course of action, both spoken and unspoken, she had set before him. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders, tossed his own payment on the bar, and accompanied her out of the tavern.

* * *

"So it's just like the last time you went to...Earth?" Weiss asked the bandaged young man. His face and eyes were covered with dressings, so he couldn't see her.

"Yeah, except I knew what was happening," Ron told her. "That kind of made it better and worse at the same time."

"Well, since the doctors are able to draw from the earlier experience, your treatment is now patterned exactly for the injuries you suffered," she told him. "That should mean a quicker recovery."

"I hope so," he sighed, he seemed to shrink into his hospital bed, clearly not looking forward to rehabilitating from another trip to his home planet.

"You don't want to talk about everything during your mission to Earth," Weiss gave the back of his hand a very careful pat. "But what about your mission to scatter the goliaths? You said that Rufus scared them away again, but was it just a quick run out there? Did you run into anything on the way?"

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you, but a friend of yours, Blake, showed up with a bunch of faunus. She said something about trying to take the White Fang from some guy named Adam."

"Blake!" Weiss's eyes flew wide with excitement. "Blake is here?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "She was outside the city. We never saw her confront...the...you're working at your scroll, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Weiss was almost jumping with excitement. "I sent her a text and it went through! I didn't want to disturb her if she was busy, so I told her that she can call me any time!"

"Not doing anything important?" Ron asked, and she missed the edge to his voice.

"No! I'm just spending...time...with...you. Okay, that was kind of harsh, wasn't it? It's not that you're not important to me," she insisted, now taking his hand. "It's just that..."

"It's okay," he told her. "If I had a friend that I didn't know if she was well or not, and hadn't seen for close to a year, I'd be excited, too."

"I want to get all of my friends together," Weiss insisted. "I want to get all of Team RWBY and all of Team RNJR! I want my sister and mother there, as well. Maybe, when we get this all taken care of, I'll have everyone be guests at the mansion. You can even introduce Rufus to Pelz and Unscharf."

"Uh...who?" Although bundled in dressings, Ron managed to look extremely nervous.

"The rats you made friends with!" She reminded him. "That you paid in peanuts to spy for you! Don't you remember?"

"I...uh..." he stammered, only to fall silent when Rufus, who had been riding in Weiss' pocket, emerged and stalked up his chest to stand directly in front of his face. While Weiss couldn't understand everything the rat squeaked at the boy, she was sure she heard the words 'other rats' and 'without me'.

"Look, buddy," he told his small friend. "I just needed some help and they were there! It wasn't anything other than paid assistance!"

More squeaks answered him.

"Okay, we played a few games of checkers!"

Still more squeaks.

"And there might have been the occasional backgammon night."

The squeaks became more of a scolding that went on and on.

"Look, it was only polite!" Ron protested. "Was I supposed to just give them their peanut payments and send them on their way? I like to be at least a little friendly!"

To Weiss' amazement, she understood when Rufus went onto a tirade about the limits of friendship and upsetting the nature of the nuclear, human/rodent relationship. Fortunately, a distraction came her way.

"Weiss."

She spun at her name being spoken from outside of the room to see...

"Winter!" She gasped. "I didn't realize that you were back! I was just keeping Ron company...he re-appeared here!"

"Yes," the older Schnee seemed to grimace about that. "Could I speak to you, in private, for a short time?"

"Well..." Weiss looked back to the bed, where Rufus was chittering something about devoting the best years of his life to Ron. "I think that Ron has all the company he needs for right now."

Winter usually kept her emotions in check, but Weiss swore she saw a little bemusement on her sister's face as they walked down the hall and to a consultation room...the type of room that was usually reserved for the medical staff to give people bad news.

"Winter!" Weiss gasped. "Has something happened to our family...or one of my teammates?"

"No," the older Schnee told her. "This is strictly between the two of us...at least for the moment...and it's a delicate subject. Please be seated."

Weiss did as requested and watched as Winter sat next to her. The usually straightforward military officer seemed to fidget just a little, as if she were preparing to do something painful.

"Weiss, could you describe your relationship with Mr...Stuffable...is it?" She finally requested.

"It's Stoppable," Weiss corrected her. "And could you be more specific in your request?"

"Of course. Do you consider him a teammate, a partner, or something beyond this?"

"He's my friend as well," Weiss informed her sister.

"Is that all?" Winter stressed.

"I believe you are requesting to know something that is both very specific and none of your concern," Weiss' voice was icy when she spoke to her sister.

"Before you judge my concern, hear me out," Winter snapped at her. "But first, tell me this; does Mr. Stuff...er, Stoppable control his teleporting?"

"No."

"What are the circumstances that cause him to teleport?" Winter asked.

"He has been teleported twice. On both occasions, his...fiance...was in grave danger. On both occasions, he returned to Rem..." She suddenly stopped, a look of horror on her face.

"I have already guessed that he doesn't originate from our world," Winter informed Weiss, when the younger woman trailed off. "Please continue."

"On both occasions, he returned to Remnant," Weiss told her. "And on both occasions, he was badly injured. His home world...Earth...is hostile to an active aura. While his injuries are shallow, they are extensive."

"He teleported a third time," Winter pointed out. "During the goliath attack on Kuchinashi, did he not suddenly appear near you?"

"Yes," Weiss answered, looking thoughtful. "I failed to consider that incident. I was in grave danger at the time."

"On the first occasion that he teleported," Winter continued. "Describe the circumstances that he vanished from Remnant and returned."

"He was in his suite in Mistral," Weiss answered. "He vanished and several minutes later, he re-appeared in the same place."

"Were you present?"

"Yes." Weiss now had a more curious look on her face.

"Yet when he vanished from the glade, he re-appeared in your room," Winter pointed out. "Did he return to Remnant, or did he return to you?"

"That would explain why he didn't vanish after assisting me," Weiss nodded. "If his semblance returns him to me, he was already there."

"So he is pulled to his fiance and to you whenever one of you is in imminent danger," Winter concluded. "When the danger is averted, he returns to you."

"Or so we theorize," Weiss pointed out.

"What similarities exist between you and his fiance?" Winter demanded. "What similarities exist between his relationship with her and his relationship with you?"

"I do not know!" Weiss snapped back.

"Very well," Winter's face held the expression of someone who was about to do something very unpleasant. "Raven Branwen has a similar semblance, only it is active. She can create a portal to any point that she can directly observe, and to three people. Those three people are her twin brother, her daughter, and the man who impregnated her. Now I ask again, what similarities exist between Mr. Stoppable's relationship with his fiance, and his relationship with you?"

"I find such allegations both insulting and irrelevant!" Weiss snapped at her. "You are not our mother! I am a legal adult and the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company! I do not answer to you!"

"But you answer to Atlas," Winter retorted. "You know how sensitive our folk are to propriety and custom! If rumors started, bolstered with some form of evidence, that you were..."

"Pregnant?" Weiss asked, when her sister seemed reluctant to continue. "Go ahead and say it!"

"If you had a certain...complication," Winter suggested. "And it was due to an inappropriate relationship with someone..." She left the statement hanging.

"Go ahead and say it," Weiss repeated, her voice a snarl. "You're saying that if I had and affair with someone that the good folk of Atlas didn't approve of, I could be outed as the CEO?"

"It can happen," Winter pointed out. "Like it or not, dear sister, you now belong to the Schnee Dust Company. Your personal life is open to public scrutiny. While you have some very good board members, they are undoubtedly ambitious and would prefer someone more...malleable...to be the CEO. If you were to provide them with some sort of public scandal, they could legitimately call for a vote of no confidence. Father made quite sure that I understood this."

"He made sure that I understood this, as well," Weiss sighed. "You can relax, sister. While I freely admit to having an attraction to him that goes beyond friendship, it is biologically impossible for me to be in that state that has you so concerned."

"Just as well," Winter sighed as well. "I didn't want to pry..."

"You probably didn't want to," Weiss interrupted her. "But I'm sure that you were more than curious about how your little sister was handling herself."

"I admit to a certain familial concern."

"But won't admit to the curiosity," Weiss countered.

"I simply don't want to see you get into a situation for which you are not prepared."

"I can displace father as the CEO and radically alter the company's business practices to something more in line with a huntress's honor," Weiss quipped. "I can face an oncoming goliath and seize bombs capable of destroying an entire city, but I may not be prepared for an adult relationship?"

"Maturing is not always done at an even level," Winter informed her. "I have led and commanded men and women who were capable, responsible soldiers, but couldn't conduct their private life with any semblance of responsibility. We have grown apart, dear sister, and I have no way of knowing if you are capable of navigating a personal relationship with the same aplomb you show on a skirmish field or in the boardroom. I can assure you that any curiosity I express is motivated by a concern for my sister, not some voyeuristic curiosity."

"So, will you consider it acceptable for me to express the same concern and make the same inquiries into your personal life?" Weiss sniffed.

"Of course not," Winter informed her. The ghost of a smile formed on the older woman's face. "I am the elder, therefore I am allowed to make such inquires into your life, but you are not allowed to make such into mine."

"I wasn't aware of such a custom."

"You are now," Winter rose to her feet, which prompted Weiss to follow suit. "Sister, I am fatigued. It has been a long day and I must gain some rest or risk being unable to react effectively when needed. We will be attacked again but we are in a much better position to meet such an assault. I hope to see you again soon, but will make my farewells in case we do not see each other again."

"And I make my farewells to you," Weiss murmured, embracing her sister.

"Be well in all of your endeavors," Winter whispered to her. "Professionally and personally." Without another word, she spun on her heel and left.

For a few minutes, Weiss remained in the room, debating how to approach her next conversation. Finally having a plan...or at least the bare outlines of a plan, she returned to Ron's room. For a moment, she stood in the doorway and took in the improbable scene of a naked mole rat lecturing a bandage-swaddled young man. She couldn't understand a great deal of what was being said, but she did pick out the words "infidelity" and something about a sacred bond between rodent and primate.

"Rufus," she interrupted the tirade. "Could I have a word with Ron?"

The rodent glared at her, clearly not finished letting the young man know what he thought of him associating with other rodents, but he finally nodded. To Weiss' amazement, the little guy formed a nest in the blankets by Ron's feet and was quickly asleep.

"Er...what's on your mind?" Ron asked. Clearly, he was still a little shook up over the haranguing he had just received.

"I...want to talk about your semblance," Weiss' voice was quiet, hesitant. "When you showed up in this city and fought the goliaths, was it your semblance that brought you here?"

"I...think so," while Weiss couldn't see his expression under his dressings, his voice sounded thoughtful. "It felt the same as it did when I wound up on Earth."

"I was in extreme danger," she told him. "Much like...Kim...was during the two times that your semblance took you to Earth."

He tilted his head as if in thought, but didn't speak.

"When we first deduced that your semblance took you to Earth, I assumed that it was to assist Kim in a time of extreme stress," Weiss continued. "And that it brought you back to Remnant in order to save your life. I thought that the bond you shared with Kim must have linked you across the realities and I thought that was because you and she...were intimate with each other."

Again, Ron didn't speak, although his covered gaze directed itself downwards. Weiss struggled with her own sorrow, a feeling of sympathy towards this young man who had worked so hard for a life that he would never have.

"But that can't be the case," she continued, before she lost her determination to see this through. "Your semblance brought you to me when I was in danger and we...well...we didn't."

"You...don't have to say it," he whispered.

"On both occasions that you were pulled to Earth, you returned to Remnant," she continued, feeling much better now that she could treat this in a clinical, detached manner. "But it wasn't just to Remnant, it was to me. The first time it happened, we both assumed that you had returned to where you were when you left but the second time, you clearly returned to me."

Ron could only nod.

"I guess it makes sense," she told him. "I woke your aura so maybe that link we created...when our souls merged for a moment...made your aura see me as a point of safety. It also makes sense that I gained the ability to...well...call you for help."

"That makes sense to me," Ron told her. "But it sort of makes me wonder how Kim can call me."

"You're thinking what I was thinking," she offered a small chuckle. "Perhaps it's something more than the fact that you were...are...intimate. Is there anything you can think of, something that the two of you went through where you somehow linked in a way that went beyond physical?"

"We went through so much," he whispered. "We were hit by all sorts of weird rays, strange machines and odd magical items. She was turned into a monkey once and this sick machine turned me back and forth from a teenager to a baby several times. I was once nearly deleted from existence and she was hit by a ray that only allowed her to tell the truth but I can't think of anything that..."

"I take it you just thought of something," she commented, when he stopped speaking in mid sentence.

"There was this one time," he answered. "One of our usual foes, a mad-scientist type, came up with a machine that made two people swap bodies. We got caught by it. For a couple of days, I had her body and she had mine. Saying it was a learning experience is an understatement but maybe that was it! We actually _were_ each other for a short time."

"That could be it," Weiss nodded, somewhat sadly. "There's no way of knowing if that's true, but not every question about aura and semblance has a definitive answer." She sighed. "If true, it takes away some of the romance, doesn't it?"

While Ron's eyes were covered, he turned his face towards her, clearly questioning what she meant.

"It's so sweet to think that two people could belong with each other so much that they can bridge the gap between realities," Weiss explained. "It makes it so much more dull if there's a scientific explanation behind it."

Ron snorted, although it was a bitter laugh. "I just can't picture you as someone who prefers romance over reason."

"I think that if you scratch even the most dedicated scientist, you'll find a romantic underneath," she murmured. After a pause, she continued. "I'm so very sorry for you."

"You didn't cause it," he assured her. "When you awakened my aura, when Qrow suggested you do it, none of us could have known what it would do. That little weasel Dementor is the one whose responsible for this."

"And Salem, whomever she is," Weiss added. "Of course, Qrow suggested that there was some sort of other side effect to aura...something that he knew about."

"But it wasn't my issue," Ron pointed out.

"I'd still like to know what it is."

"Yeah," Ron sighed. "I guess I do, too. I'm here for good now."

"But not alone," Weiss pointed out. She gently took his hand. "It's your own fault; you've been here less than a year and you've already helped defeat a bandit attack on a farmstead, cleared ruins outside of Atlas, disarmed two of these nuclear warheads and helped throw back a grimm attack on Kuchinashi."

"Rufus did most of the last one."

"But you were there," she smiled a somewhat sad smile that he couldn't see. "You're not alone."

"Thanks," he murmured, a quiet, yet heartfelt expression of appreciation.

It was a tender moment. Despite his sadness, she knew he was taking comfort in her just being with him...and she basked in the knowledge that she made it easier for him to accept his current situation. She wanted to say something more but couldn't find the words and was pretty sure that he was in the same situation.

"I left a message behind," he finally told her. "It was Yang's idea. I bought another scroll and used it just to record messages. I recorded messages to Kim, to my parents, to my sister and to my other friends. It wasn't easy; it was hard to start and once I got started, it was hard to stop. I put the scroll in a pouch and kept the pouch with me wherever I went. During the fight against Gill and the grimm, I gave the pouch to her."

Weiss had no answer, so she gave his hand a gentle squeeze and hoped it was more reassuring than painful for him.

"I...left the ring behind, as well." Ron started sobbing. "I'll never give it to her the way I was supposed to, but maybe she can give it to one of her brothers...or if she has a son someday...he'll be able to use it if he pops the question."

Weiss didn't know what to say to him. Fortunately, the awkward moment didn't last very long.

"Weiss!" A familiar, but long unheard voice, hailed her from the hallway.

"Blake!" She spun to see the friend that she hadn't seen in far too long. Moments later, the two young women were in a close embrace. However, upon seeing the faunus, Rufus shrieked in terror and dove under Ron's blanket.

"Ron," Sun, who had accompanied Blake, rushed to the Earth-man's bedside. "I came as soon as I heard you were here! What happened to you? Can I get you anything?"

"I...uh..." Ron was more than a little put off.

"Sun," Blake pulled herself away from Weiss. "What's with you? You've only met this guy and you're acting like he's some...rock star or something."

"I dunno," Sun admitted. "It's just...I get this idea that he's really important."

"No, I'm ordinary," Ron assured him. "In fact, I'm extra-ordinary."

"Okay, I'll tone it down," Sun told everyone. "But is everyone cool if I hang here for awhile? Ron probably doesn't like being alone when he's blind..."

"Hey!" Rufus protested, jumping out from under the blankets...only to take one look at Blake and dive back into his hiding place.

"Okay, he probably wants more than one friend around him," Sun corrected himself, looking towards Weiss and Blake. "That will give the two of you a chance to catch up."

It seemed a wonderful idea to Weiss, and Blake's expression clearly indicated that she would like to catch up, as well. The clincher came when Rufus poked his head out from under the blankets. Weiss didn't catch the entire statement, but the gist of it seemed to urge her to take her friend to another room.

"I haven't eaten since lunch," she told Blake. "Care to see if this place has a cafeteria?"

"I'd love to," Blake smiled at her shorter friend.

"Yes!" Rufus squeaked his encouragement. "Feed her! Feed her!"

The rat continued to watch, intently, as Blake and Weiss left the room.

"So," Sun pulled up a chair next to Ron's bed. "Tell me about where you're from."

* * *

Even in a crowded aircraft, privacy was possible.

Kim had learned this from countless trips during her teenage years. While some people would talk to pass the time, most would eventually retreat into themselves, either falling asleep or letting their minds wander to another place and time, ignoring the dull reality of a dull flight. Since she, Hirotaka and Shego didn't have much in common, there wasn't any reason to talk. There had been quite a bit of activity when the tactical aircraft flew them from Kongsoya to Norway. Once there, Kim hadn't bothered to learn the name of the city or the base, they transferred onto a strategic aircraft for the long flight to the U.S. This was where the boredom kicked in, which would allow Kim some private time. Still, itt wasn't easy for her, because she was deceiving Dr. Director.

The redhead didn't know what was in the bag that Ron had given her, but since it was from another reality, Dr. Director would surely want to carefully investigate it. Since Ron gave it to her, Kim was determined to have first crack at the contents before, or even if, she turned it over to the older woman. For this reason, she stuffed the bag into a cargo pocket and did her best to not think about it.

Now it was a waiting game. While Dr. Director had turned over Dementor's henchmen to local authorities in Norway, she kept the small scientist with her for the trip to Middleton. She had a couple of fresh agents with her, so neither Kim, Hirotaka, Shego, or Dr. Director herself had to keep a watch on the prisoner. Unfortunately, it meant that Dr. Director was free to pay an irritating amount of attention to the quasi-agents that had just completed the mission.

Kim was sure that this was a trait of good leadership; making sure that none of them were injured or psychologically scarred by the violent experience. However, it was irritating now. Kim knew that she should keep the bag in her pocket until she was clear of all Global Justice personnel...but she wanted to know what was so vital that Ron would give it to her in the middle of a fight.

Finally, everyone's adrenaline seemed to wear off. Dr. Director went forward to the cockpit, while the guards took Dementor to a holding area aft. Shego and Hirotaka settled in to sleep and Kim pretended to do the same. Finally, she was able to open the bag and look inside. The first thing she found was a battered, but recognizable small box. Deciding that she couldn't bear to see what she was sure she would find, she placed the box to one side and examined the other object that the bag held.

It looked like a thin piece of white metal, roughly the size of her palm, with a diamond-shaped piece of yellowish metal in the center of one face. Curious, she touched the diamond shape and watched in amazement as the device opened up, telescoping until it was a little larger than a dollar bill. In the space between the ends, a screen came to life with several icons.

It was clearly a smart phone of some sort, but one that was much more advanced than any she had ever seen; it was even more advanced than her Kimmunicator. One of the icons had a different color than the others, and was labeled 'messages'. Clearly, this was what Ron meant for her to have, so she touched the icon. The screen changed, showing a list of additional icons; one was labeled 'KP', one labeled 'Hana', 'Parents', 'Felix', and 'Monique'. Obviously, one was meant for her, so she pressed 'KP'.

Again, the screen changed and showed three additional icons; labeled 1, 2 and 3. Again, it was obvious what to do. She glanced around, made sure that nobody was observing her, and pressed number 1.

" _Hey, KP," Ron's voice sounded from the device, prompting her to find a control that lowered the volume. His face looked out at her, with some minor abrasions on his face, as he spoke. "I don't know when you'll get this message, but it's been three days since I saw you in Drakken's lab. If I ever see you again, I'll try to get this device...it's called a scroll, by the way...to you. I'll be recording messages for other people, so please get these to the right people."_

" _Where to begin..." he mused. With a sigh, he delved in. "This world I'm in is called Remnant and it's close enough to Earth for me to get along, but there are some really strange things about it. For one thing, your soul can be awakened to give you a kind of spiritual armor and other abilities. This is called aura and with it, a person becomes stronger, faster, and can take hits without taking an injury. When I got my aura activated, it was awesome...but Earth doesn't seem to agree with it. My aura, my own soul, turned on me while I was on Earth."_

Kim continued to listen; she learned about aura and semblances. She learned that Remnant had no elements more dense than lead and there was no such thing as radiation. She watched as Ron focused on the broken moon, when showed her the City of Mistral. She listened to him tell about a scientist's efforts to use the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer, and his ability to manipulate the Lotus Blade, to tune in on Earth. She learned that the scientist doubted that an opening large enough for a person could ever be created. She listened as he told her about summoning the blade and disabling first one nuclear warhead and then another. She learned that Rufus was alive and safe with Ron, and had told him about her efforts to reach him. Finally, she learned that Ron's semblance drew him to her when she was in intense danger, but then returned him to Remnant when the danger was over.

 _"...so that's the sitch, KP," he said, his voice trembling a bit. "Even if the scientists here can somehow open a doorway back to Earth; even if your team manages to send that compartment here, I can't come home. This is going to be hard to say, but I think you should know. I...I...bought the ring before our mission to stop Dementor. I was going to pop the question when we reached the resort in the Alps. I love you KP, and I'll love you until the day I die, but there's just no way that we can make this work."_

 _"It's not fair for you to wait for me," he was now sobbing. "So I want you to move on with your life. I once said that you were destined for the stars while I was going to be stuck on Earth. I...I guess I had the right idea but I just got who was going to leave wrong. I'd give anything to come back to you, to be your husband until death takes us apart, but something bigger than us saw to it that we couldn't be together. Please, never stop doing what you do, Earth needs you and I'll just have to muddle on as best I can, here."_

 _"If I could ask you a couple of favors, please look in on my parents and Hana whenever you get a chance. I'll record messages for them, as well. If you ever get this, please record a message of your own, and have my family and any of the old gang do the same. If we see each other again, maybe we can swap scrolls and sort of keep in touch. Right now, I don't know what else to say but goodbye."_

The screen went dark.

Kim sobbed, but managed to look around and make sure that nobody was observing her. This was only the first of three messages listed for her. Even though she felt crushed she realized that she couldn't turn over this...scroll...until she had recorded all of the messages, and distributed them to those they were intended for. She had no doubt that once she gave the scroll to Dr. Director, and she eventually would, it would wind up with the NSA, and it would never be returned to her. Wiping her eyes, she opened the box and looked at the ring that could have... _should_ have...been hers. She resisted the urge to put it on her finger. Only one boy...one man...had the right to place this ring on her finger and it looked like he would never be able to do so. Unless that day came, she would never consider it truly hers.

With a shuddering breath, she placed both the scroll and the ring back in the bag. Ron could never return to Earth...at least not for more than a few minutes at a time. Since even that caused him extensive injuries, she swore to herself to limit the times she was in danger. However, there was another possibility. While she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep, she attempted to rest. Decisions had to be made, and those decisions would result in some major efforts in the near future.

* * *

"Miss Xiao Long, thank you for coming here as quickly as you did." The doctor ushered Yang in through the emergency entrance and deeper into the institution.

"I don't understand," Yang confessed. "I'm not a doctor of any sort and I'm not in any sort of danger. Do I have a rare blood type that you need?"

"No," he told her. "And there's a sacrifice I'm going to request of you that's far more serious than a unit or two of blood."

"Then what?" She demanded. "A kidney?"

"Perhaps you should see the prospective recipient, first."

Yang was more than a little upset, more than a little nervous, as she followed the man still deeper into the building. Finally they entered the Intensive Care Department, where the doctor gestured for her to look through a window and into a unit. Yang did so and gasped when she saw...

"General Ironwood?"

"He arrived from BatiKiyisi earlier today," the doctor told the young woman. "You can see that the general's right side is robotic."

Yang nodded.

"This extends inside of him, as well," the doctor continued. "Some of his internal organs are robotic. I don't know anything about the super weapon that was used in BatiKiyisi, but it appears to have rendered his robotic body parts non functional."

"So, why bring me in on this?" Yang demanded. "Do you need me to donate...things?"

"Yes," he sighed. "But it isn't as dire as you many think...or perhaps it is more so. You see, the general has a human heart and lungs, but they must work in tandem with his robotic components in order for him to have full function. As it is, his artificial components are not only not helping his organic organs, they are causing them to be less efficient. As it is, despite our best efforts, he is slowly dying. He will not even survive a trip to Atlas...nor will he last long enough for replacement components to be delivered here."

"I still don't understand..."

"It appears that the reason his robotic organs are not functioning is that the neural interface...the component that allows his organic brain to control his robotic organs, is not functional." The doctor explained. "While the organs themselves appear functional, this interface was destroyed by a massive burst of energy. It's this lack of coordination that has doomed him to death and as much as it pains me to admit it, building such an interface is beyond Mistral's science."

Yang just looked at him, waiting for him to explain what he wanted.

"In all of Mistral, there is only one such operational interface."

Slowly, Yang understood.

"It's in my robotic arm," she concluded. "It's what allows me to control my right arm, and you need it to save him."

"And I'm not about to have it seized by force," the doctor assured her. "Even if you donate it, the general will not regain full motor function; there are several such additional interfaces needed for that and they've been destroyed, as well. However, we could re-establish his organs' function, which will allow him to survive a trip to Atlas, where more are either available or can be fabricated."

"Take it," Yang stated, her voice was flat.

"I appreciate your offer," he told her. "But I have to remind you that it could be a great deal of time before whomever made yours is able to create another for you, if they will do so at all. You could permanently lose..."

"His life is more important than my arm," Yang decided. "Just please, let my friends know what I'm doing. I'd like them to be near me if I'm n-n-not going to have the arm again."

* * *

All through the night, men and women worked at the breach in Kuchinashi's walls while exhausted soldiers rested, others kept watch and still others scrambled to prepare the siege weapons for the inevitable assault. In the headquarters, Colonel Arvaken maintained his vigil while several of his staff managed a few hours of precious sleep. Screens were set up around his office, allowing him to see likely routes of advance and the blurry images of the gathering grimm horde, simultaneously. As the hours passed, he received reports of the preparations, allowing him to make slight adjustments to the priorities throughout the night. A few hours before dawn, the grimm started to move. Taking a deep breath, he pressed a button on his scroll that sent several messages, putting several assets into motion.

One of the messages went to Winter Schnee, startling her out of bed, shocked that she had slept for so long. Chiding herself for being soft, she noted that she had a couple of hours before the enemy would arrive, but hurried to prepare herself anyway. She would be at her post and correcting any deficiencies she noted, well before the enemy arrived.

Another message reached Winter's sister, Weiss. The younger woman also prepared herself for the day, knowing that she represented her kingdom, her family and Beacon Academy. Once dressed and armed, she rushed to the hospital; she had to pick up Rufus and get to the headquarters so that she could carry the rat, whom she was reluctantly growing fond of, to wherever the goliaths attacked.

More messages reached the leaders of the faunus band that had sought to overthrow the White Fang leadership. Blake, Sun, Ghira and Kali roused their folk so they could be fed and prepared for the day's trials.

Yet another message reached Raven Branwen, who turned off both her own and Taiyang Xaio Long's scrolls. She was surprised to find herself reluctant to rise, as she had slept better than usual, even better than she usually did with her tribe around her. A bandit can never afford to let her guard down but as much as her companion's over-inflated morality irritated her at times, she had to admit that it had its uses. Taiyang would never stab someone in the back or take advantage of a vulnerable situation, like Raven had placed herself in with him.

While she occasionally wondered why he didn't take advantage of the fact that mankind had mastered the art of forging weapons, the fact that he could never actually be disarmed came in handy at times. If she were separated from her sword, her capabilities were vastly decreased while he could be stripped naked, as he was now, and still be a deadly force. His altruism, mastery of his own body, and the activities they had indulged in had given her a very restful night's sleep.

Their eyes only briefly met as they prepared for the day. They needed to talk, but such a discussion could wait. If they survived the day's trials, they would need to work out just where they were going to go and just what they wanted to be to each other. If they didn't, then the discussion wouldn't be necessary.

Finally, a message also reached the soldiers stationed at the breach site. They informed the workers, who picked up their tools and marched to the nearest gate. They could no longer get in through the breach itself, as they had made significant progress patching the damage. Now, a newly constructed wall, roughly a quarter the height of the previous structure, filled the gap and stood ready to inhibit an attack upon the city.

While the workers took their tools and other equipment with them, they didn't have time to take the building materials that had been delivered to the work site. Among the stone blocks, aggregate, mortar and other materials, a piece of rock, shaped like a human heart and emitting a faint, red glow, was left just outside of the walls, waiting for the oncoming attack.

* * *

 _As always, thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his ever-patient beta-reading._

 _Until next time, best wishes;_

 _daccu65._


	38. Chapter 38

Colonel Arvaken strode purposefully into his briefing room to address what he considered his ace up his sleeve. He had already addressed his standard troops and had released them to their stations. The assault would fall upon his city in just over an hour, so he wanted to speak to this small band of highly capable fighters that he would throw into the vital engagements.

As soon has he walked in, Winter Schnee and the commander of the special artillery battery snapped to attention. Weiss Schnee rose respectfully to her feet while Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen, Ghira Belladona and Kira Belladonna remained seated. The colonel hid a smile; it was good to confirm the exact relationship he had with all those under his command. He managed to quell a smirk when the bald rat emerged from Weiss' pocket, scrambled to her shoulder and also stood at attention.

"Be seated," he addressed the group, offering a scowl to those who did not rise. "Captain Tabanca, what is your status?" The colonel already knew, but he was also aware that making the review a public forum would hearten everyone in this room.

"The guns are up and ready," the burly young man told his new commander. "We have not registered them, as ordered."

"Camouflage?"

"They are covered and mounted on the disappearing mounts," the captain reported. "When extended, the guns cover the entire perimeter."

"Transport?"

"Each gun has three alternate sites with multiple routes scouted and cleared to each point. The prime movers are all operational, fueled and ready."

"And the crews?" Colonel Arvaken prompted.

"Rested, fed and standing by."

"Ladies and gentlemen, these guns are the key to our victory," Arvaken told his audience. "The enemy still has several goliaths and the fact that they are closing on this city tells me that she believes she has countered our rodent's ability to frighten them away. Only these siege canon can reliably eliminate such powerful grimm while keeping our own losses to a minimum. That's why I have assigned a team of soldiers to each, to protect them from all harm."

"Next," he now turned towards Kali and Ghira. "Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna, I am placing you and your company as the reserves. I will send you to whichever point is in danger of crumbling under the attack. With any luck, we won't need your services."

"I don't understand," Ghira protested. "Adam is still out there and has probably been trying to rally his faction and the additional recruits that we know were heading into the area. If you place my company on the wall, the chances are very good that the White Fang will refuse to attack fellow faunus."

"It could very well play into his hands," Arvaken countered. "He could be trying to make everyone think that you are puppets of Mistral, willing to fight your own. I won't have a faunus civil war, that may spread to all of Remnant, start under my command."

"We came here to defend Mistral against the more radical branch of the White Fang," Ghira rumbled. "We intend to do so! You say that you have no intention of being the commander that starts a faunus civil war, but you're wrong in how you see the situation! If faunus are to die today, and I have no doubt that both human and faunus will, I would rather see my brothers fall by my hand, with me begging them to stop." He fixed the colonel with a hard eye. "A faunus civil war could very well start today, or an all out war between human and faunus could start today. There are no good choices, only bad and worse choices."

"Very well," the colonel growled back. "I'll give you the task of guarding the cannon."

"That's still keeping us out of the fighting!" Ghira protested. "I'm hoping that we can convince our brothers to not attack in the first place!"

"You don't grasp the situation!" Arvaken snapped in reply. "What is the enemy's most capable asset?"

"I don't understand," Ghira admitted.

"It isn't the grimm," Arvaken told him. "Cinder seems to be able to keep the grimm from attacking her allies, but she doesn't have fine control over them. When they attack, they attack the nearest human...or faunus."

"I don't see what this has to do with the situation."

"Cinder is no fool," Arvaken continued. "So if and when she learns that we have siege cannon available, who...or what...is she going to throw at them?"

Ghira and Kali simply stared at him.

"She isn't going to send flying grimm," the colonel informed the faunus leaders. "Sure, they can fly right over the walls, but will they be able to focus on the inanimate weapons when there are so many terrified people in the area? She isn't going to send her goliaths...that's what the cannon are here to defeat. She's going to send the White Fang; thinking assets that understand the importance of eliminating the cannon as opposed to getting easy kills."

"Once those cannon fire their first rounds, whomever is guarding them is going to be in the White Fang's cross-hairs. At that point it will be your responsibility to defeat the White Fang attack...either through negotiation or combat."

"Thank you, colonel," Ghira inclined his head, respectfully.

"You may change your mind," the colonel offered a grim smile. "Putting you at the most dangerous point in the city is seldom an act prompting gratitude."

"The next issue is the reserve force," he continued, now poking at his scroll. "I am assigning this to such hunters that are present...with the exception of Winter and Weiss Schnee, Raven Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long.

The four in question just looked at him, puzzled.

"Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna," the colonel declared. "Captain Tabanca. I am sure that you will need to get to your commands. You are dismissed to do so."

The three stood, the captain snapping to attention, before leaving the room.

"As for you four," Arvaken addressed the remaining people, once the other three had left. "While I suspect that Cinder has found a way of countering the goliaths' fear of the rat..."

"Rufus!" An indignant squeak, followed shortly by the rodent in question, emerged from Weiss' pocket.

"Very well, Rufus," the colonel managed to keep from appearing to be confused by being corrected by a talking rat. "While I suspect that...Rufus...will not be able to frighten the goliaths again, I will still make the attempt." A quick work of his scroll projected a map of the surrounding area in the air. "The last visual confirmation I had, Cinder and the goliaths were here."

A flashing red dot appeared, and a red line showed the path she had taken to reach this point.

"I had one of my airships drop low enough for a detailed examination," he continued. "Here is the video that the crew filmed before lancers overwhelmed them."

The image changed. Now, it showed an aerial view of Cinder, riding the lead of four goliaths. Each goliath had another grimm resting on its head. These smaller grimm looked like jellyfish, with tentacles spread across the elephantine grimms' heads, and even into their ears.

"Seekers," a new voice drawled from the doorway. "They're Salem's means of communicating. If anything can control a big grimm like a goliath, that's the way Salem is going to do it."

Colonel Arvaken and the others looked up to see...

"Qrow," Taiyang growled. Before the teacher could get to his feet, Raven's hand was on his shoulder.

"I don't recall requesting your presence," the colonel glowered at the newcomer.

"Hey, since I sent the hunters heading this way, at Headmaster Lionheart's request, I thought I'd be welcome," Qrow shrugged his shoulders and held up his own scroll. He walked into the room, Zwei at his heels. "I've got Leo's recommendation that I'm a pretty strong asset for this upcoming struggle, so I thought I'd give my sister and my brother-in-law a hand."

The other three hunters gave Colonel Arvaken a reluctant nod.

"So you were saying something about these smaller grimm," Arvaken prompted him.

"Yeah," Qrow produced a flask and took a small pull. "Your enemy here, Cinder, is working for Salem. Those seekers only show up when she wants to keep an eye on things, personally. I don't know if it's hard to create them or what, but you don't find them just everywhere. They're only where something big is taking place."

"Just how much have you overheard?" The colonel demanded of him.

"Enough," Qrow shrugged. "I know that you're gonna try to scatter the goliaths again, even though you suspect that it won't work. That's not very smart."

"So we shouldn't try it?"

"No," Qrow flopped into a chair while Zwei rushed over to nuzzle at Taiyang's hand. "Not trying would be stupid. But you've already lost an airship to them, what more are you willing to throw away?"

"I'm not understanding your reasoning," Arvaken confessed. "You say that it's foolish to try to turn them, yet more foolish to not."

"It's simple enough," Qrow crossed his feet on the highly-polished table. "Go ahead and try, but make sure you can get the little ice princess out of there if it fails."

"I was intending on sending these three hunters with her," the colonel snapped, glaring at the muddy boots on the table.

"Not bad," Qrow took a smaller pull. "But not very good, either. Your airship was overwhelmed by lancers, so what was your idea for getting them there and, more importantly, getting them back out?"

"I am going to have the drop from high altitude," Arvaken told him. "And I have several hidden points where they can go to wait out the battle, afterwards."

"But you already know that there are lancers in the area," Qrow pointed out. "But you just got another asset in place...me."

To his side, Raven was now glaring at her brother, but kept her silence.

"Now, I don't know what kind of landing strategy the ice queen uses, but I bet it's the same one that her little sister does; they form their glyphs to slow down their fall, landing as gently and as a snowflake. That's fine when you don't have a swarm of flying grimm all over you. As for getting back out, you know that even if the goliaths scatter again, you're gonna have grimm or White Fang all over whoever went out to meet them. They're not going to be able to get back to the city and they're not going to be able to hide. Now, not only are you throwing them away on the chance of delaying the goliaths for a short time, you're throwing away strong assets. Care to hear an alternative?"

"I'll always hear an alternative," Arvaken grated out.

"Send the folks you planed," Qrow drawled. "But don't drop them all. My brother-in-law here has a very blunt landing strategy; he just jumps and unleashes a strike on the ground when he's close. It isn't very subtle, but it gets him out of the air fast. After that, my dear sister can form a portal to Taiyang for the other three to pass through."

Rufus growled at the huntsman.

"Okay, four," Qrow corrected himself, pointedly ignoring the glares from Taiyang and Raven. "Now, I stay here. After the rat tries to scare the goliaths away again, succeed or fail, my sister can form a portal to me. That gets your team back here safe, rather than trying to fight their way out of a horde of grimm."

"I don't like strangers knowing the limits of my semblance," Raven spat at her brother.

"But it's necessary for me to know," Colonel Arvaken told her. "This sounds reasonable, and my last airship will be landing outside, shortly. We execute it. Are their any questions or comments?"

"Not at the moment," Taiyang grated out, glaring at Qrow.

"Then there's nothing more to say," Arvaken rose to his feet, which prompted Winter to snap to attention. "Qrow, you will be with me."

The others rose to their feet more leisurely than Winter had. Qrow ambled after the colonel while the others made their way to another exit. Nobody missed that when Taiyang and Qrow passed each other, the blonde man slammed his shoulder into the dark-haired man.

"This isn't the time," Raven hissed at Tai, while Winter placed herself in between the former teammates.

The major could only shake her head; this wasn't going to be an easy mission and if they got back, things were only going to get harder.

* * *

It wasn't home; in fact it wasn't even on the same continent as home, but right now Ruby didn't care. Mistral City was just visible on the horizon and she had just picked up a signal from the Haven Tower. Giving a somewhat guilty look at Jaune, who's motion sickness was acting up on the airship, she slipped away so that she could make her call with some privacy. As she dialed Yang's number, she felt an excitement that she hadn't since she had gotten her first scroll.

"Ruby?" The answer wasn't Yang's voice, it was Nora's.

"Nora! What are you doing with Yang's scroll."

"She's in the hospital...wait a minute!" The orange-haired girl suddenly realized what she said. "She's fine...but she's in the hospital."

"Those two statements don't really go together."

"Look, her robotic arm has some sort of doohickey that lets her brain control it." Nora explained. "And the doctors here need that doohickey to save General Ironwood's life. She's in the hospital so they can take out the doohickey and put it in Ironwood!"

"Okay, it's good to see Nora still has the same grip on technical matters," Jaune managed to mumble.

"Hey, I heard that!" Nora snapped. "Just get here and we can talk about it then!"

Jaune flinched.

"But...how much danger is Yang in?" Ruby asked.

"None, from listening to the doctors," Nora told her. "But the hospital has procedures that they have to follow. No outside electronics are allowed in the operating room, so Ren is in there with her while I'm in a waiting room with everyone's scroll."

Nora paused, and Ruby could hear her talking to someone nearby.

"Hey Ruby, I've got to let you go," Nora announced. "There's a boy here who says Qrow dropped him off here on the way to Kuchinashi and does he ever have an interesting story. See you soon!"

* * *

"Did it do any good?" Yang felt more than a little foolish sitting in a hospital gown.

There was no medical process required to remove her arm; she could have just activated the release and handed it to the doctor, but he insisted on following procedures. He had insisted that she gown up, then instruct him on how to release the arm from her stump. After that, he handed it to a technician to be taken to a lab and carefully sterilized before removing the transducer and installing it in the general's body cavity.

Okay, she could understand that, but the rest of the whole thing made no sense to her at all.

First, they wouldn't just give her the arm back; they insisted on completely sanitizing it before having a senior staff member release it from their possession...as if it were a real appendage. They even went so far to seal it in a container for biological waste. While Yang could understand the need for discretion in such a situation, she wondered why the hospital couldn't understand that her arm was a _thing_ , more akin to one of her gauntlets than real flesh.

It was also depressing, as she realized that she had no idea what had become of her real arm after the fall of Beacon.

"He has stabilized," the doctor assured her, prompting the blonde to sigh with relief. Nearby, Ren and Nora had similar reactions.

"However, we don't know just how much motor function he will regain. Could you come with me please?"

He led the way out of the operating suite where she had been waiting. Once in the hall, Ren joined the two.

"Where's Nora?" She asked her quiet friend.

"Getting a surprise for you," the young man allowed the ghost of a smile to flicker on his face.

"I'm not really a patient!" Yang growled at the two men with her. "I don't understand all of this! That arm had a release...I've put it on and taken it off dozens of times! Why are we going through this canine and equestrian show?"

"Hospital procedures," the doctor reminded her.

"I thought Mistral was supposed to be the kingdom of artistic expression; thinking outside of the box," Yang complained. "Why do you have to be stuck in this mindless routine?"

"Perhaps you're right," the doctor showed a bit of irritation in his voice and on his face. "When you came in here with an injured leg, maybe we shouldn't have followed the time-proven procedures for rehabilitating you as quickly as possible. Maybe we should have just tried something new and hoped that you wound up walking again."

"I..." Yang found herself at a loss for words.

"Free expression is all well and good on the stage, the screen, or the gallery," the doctor fixed her with a hard look. "But when it comes to medicine and engineering, we're as stubborn and conservative as Atlas. Now, the time may come when robotic limbs are common, and we will adjust our procedures to take them into account. In the meantime, I will gladly put everyone through a great deal of inconvenience to assure that no infections are introduced into the general's body cavity...or your arm."

"I should have kept my mouth shut, shouldn't I?"

"Not at all," the doctor's expression softened a great deal. "Questions are how the young learn. However, phrasing your inquiry as a polite questions, rather than a compliant, would have been appreciated."

"So I came across as a whining little girl," she concluded.

"Or a nervous huntress who just sacrificed her dominant arm for a good cause," he shrugged. "Now, let's see how the general is doing."

"A question, if I could," Ren interrupted.

"Of course, young man."

"Why did you prohibit our scrolls from being in the operating room when you extracted the transducer?"

"I don't know how sensitive the electronics are," the doctor shrugged. "Or how much of a shielding effect the human body has for that particular piece of equipment. That's why I had it placed in a shielded container immediately upon extracting it."

"Of course," Ren nodded.

"That's how to ask a question," Yang nodded, then looked at Ren. "The next time I get grouchy, give me a nudge."

"You tend to respond to unexpected physical contact violently," he informed her. "So perhaps an alternative method would be better."

"We'll work something out," she grumbled.

By now, they had reached the intensive care unit, and were able to observe the general from through a window. The doctor examined a readout on a screen beneath the viewing portal.

"He appears to be resting at this time," the doctor announced. "His heart rhythm and respiration appear solid, functioning within nominal guidelines. His primary doctor intends to give him a couple of hours of normal rest before waking him...if he doesn't wake up on his own."

"When will..." Yang began to ask, only to be interrupted.

"Yang!" A familiar voice shouted from the hall, despite the overwhelming quiet of a hospital.

Yang didn't care, she spun and saw a familiar and welcome sight, her sister rushing down the hall. The younger girl wasn't using her semblance, but she was still moving at a high rate of speed.

"Ruby!" She shouted, showing no more concern about a hospital's propriety that the girl she had just named.

"Nora!" The orange-haired girl, who had accompanied Ruby, shouted, pumping her arm in triumph. Yang had just a moment to realize that Jaune was with Nora, then Ruby threw herself into Yang's embrace and wrapped her arms around the older girl's neck.

Yang wanted to chide her for running off like she had. She wanted to tell her little sister how proud she was that she had the courage to go off and look for answers. She wanted to tell the girl that she was so happy so see her, alive and well, once again. Instead, she just found herself squeezing her sister, unable to speak. Finally, she managed to set her down and hold her at arm's length.

Yang swore that Ruby had grown another inch, and that she had put on a few more pounds. The smaller girl looked weathered, the skin on her face and hands had clearly been subject to rain and wind, dirt and dust. Her clothing also looked weathered, and repaired by a huntress' hasty stitching. However, she also had a confidence about her, the air of someone who had faced real hardships, not just the ones to be found in a classroom or close at home, and had come out stronger.

"I'msosorrythatIranofflikeIdid," she blurted. "Ididn'tthinkabouthowmuchyouwouldworryaboutme..."

"Ruby, slow down," Yang interrupted. "We can..."

"Stop this altogether," the doctor interrupted Yang. "I understand that this is a reunion of sorts, but I suggest you take it away from patients that are trying to rest. I'll inform you of any changes to the general's status."

Both sisters suddenly looked timid, realizing that they had let their emotions get the best of them.

"The doctor makes and excellent point," Ren suggested. "If we leave the institution, the two of you will be free to be as enthusiastic in your reunion as you wish."

"Just the two?" Nora protested. "We've missed you guys as well!"

"Out!" The doctor insisted, prompting the five to hustle off down the hallway and to the nearest exit. Once outside, the sisters were back to their intense reunion.

"Uh...guys?" Nora requested the two sisters. "Could we do this over food? It's a little early for lunch, but we have some things that need to be done this afternoon."

"Like what?" Yang asked.

"Jaune managed to look up Pyrrha's parents," Ruby told her older sister. "He...we...are going to visit them this evening and Jaune wants to make himself presentable before we do."

For the first time since the fall of Beacon, Yang really looked at the boy. Much as Ruby, he had changed. While he hadn't gotten any taller, he had put on some weight. His hair was a little messier, so he was due a visit to a barber. His clothing had also been ripped, torn and hastily mended and patched. His armor had several nicks and scrapes, so some time with a paint can and a polishing rag was also in order.

"Could you put it off until tomorrow?" She suggested. "A full night of maintenance and rest might make a better impression."

"The last time we were here, we got distracted after the first day," Jaune told her. "These are still troubled times, so I don't want to take that chance."

"They deserve it," Ruby insisted. "We've learned that you can't put these things off. Jaune, Nora and Ren were her teammates and I was there when...when..."

Yang realized that Ruby was on the verge of breaking into tears. She immediately reached to her sister, but found that Jaune already had a comforting hand on her shoulder. Strangely, she felt no jealousy or irritation at this; she realized that for the near year that she hadn't seen her sister, Ruby must have gone through some very rough times with these three.

"So let's get some food and get to work," Nora declared, making the mood lighten a bit. "We can tell you some wild stories about our trip here if you wanna hear 'em."

"You bet I do!" Yang assured the four. "But first, I need to do something."

Before any of them could react, Yang gave Nora a quick hug, then Ren and Jaune a peck on the cheek.

"You're right," she told the confused trio. "You don't put people off. I never properly thanked the three of you for sticking with Ruby when she left, and when I wasn't up to going with her. Because of you three, I'm talking to my sister again." She draped her arm over Ruby's shoulders as emphasis.

"Hey, I'm not helpless," Ruby protested. Despite her complaint, she wrapped her arm around Yang's waist.

"So you're saying you would have been fine by yourself?" Yang challenged her.

"Well...no," Ruby admitted. "But I wasn't helpless."

"We all got each other through the journey," Ren noted. "And we all grew while traveling. However, I thought that you wanted to hear some amusing stories."

"I sure do," Yang assured him, as the five young people set a course for a noodle stand they all knew about.

"Well, let's start with a geist we fought," Ruby began. "It was in the last village we stayed in before reaching Higanbana. It had possessed a bunch of rocks. You'd think that knocking one of its arms off would have been a good move, but it wasn't."

"It was a very good move," Ren countered her.

"Not when it used that dead tree, instead," Ruby pointed out.

"Actually, that wasn't all that bad," Jaune remembered. "Until you lit it on fire." He now addressed Yang. "Fighting a geist that's using a burning tree as an arm isn't a lot of fun."

"Especially when your weapon is at the local blacksmiths, getting an upgrade," Nora added.

Yang just looked from one to another, beginning to believe that she had missed out on the adventure of a lifetime.

* * *

The wind rushed through Taiyang's hair, whistling in his ears as the ground rushed up to meet him. He would have to time this perfectly; if he didn't strike at the right moment, even a powerful aura like his could be overwhelmed by the high fall.

For a moment, just a moment, he debated not making the attempt.

The moment passed. He was still Taiyang Xiao Long, a huntsman on a mission, although he didn't know for how much longer the mission would need him. He had been doing this for a long time; he struck downward as he reached the ground, generating a shock wave that rocked him head to toe...but slowed him enough so that his landing was just jarring and not damaging. A few seconds later, a glowing portal appeared in mid air. First, Weiss Schnee stepped out, looking confused and disoriented. Next came her older sister; every bit as disoriented as the younger Schnee but not showing it. Finally, Raven stepped out of the doorway, as nonchalantly as if she had just walked into an inn to order a meal.

Or maybe to rob the place.

Winter Schnee took a moment to orient herself with her surroundings before offering the others a tight nod and stalking off on a course to intercept Cinder's last known route, drawing her saber as she walked. Her sister quickly followed suit. Raven offered him a slight shrug and he followed the two Schnees while Raven brought up the rear, sheathing her weapon.

As much as Tai wanted to disdain the two silver-haired women ahead of him, he couldn't. While they clearly preferred to wear immaculately tailored and pressed clothing, they didn't hesitate to crawl through dirt, mud and dense thickets. Winter's uniform and Weiss' combat skirt may have appeared delicate, but they were clearly made with rough handling in mind. He didn't understand why Weiss wore heels that looked like they belonged on a ballroom, but the girl could clearly move gracefully in them. Come to think of it, both Winter and Raven wore heeled boots, so Taiyang forced his mind away from the oddities of women's footwear choices and back to the mission at hand.

It wasn't going to be easy, despite what the colonel had told them. Sure, Cinder and the goliaths seemed to be alone but Tai, Raven and probably Winter knew better; only and idiot would put prime assets, like goliaths, into play without some sort of support. As much as Tai hated Cinder and, by extension, Salem, he knew that they weren't idiots. There would be smaller grimm, trusted White Fang, or maybe even humans in the area. Hence, the small raiding party was slipping through dense underbrush in an effort to get the drop on Cinder. Winter frequently updated the situation from the scroll, which was linked from the airship far above. Finally, she called a halt.

"Over this ridge," she whispered. "We'll strike the center of the goliath column."

Tai offered a tight nod of approval, mirrored by Raven. While Winter sought to frighten the goliaths, she hoped to scatter them, as well. The older of the Schnee siblings led the way up the slope, keeping low and in cover. The party maintained their formation, with Weiss following Winter, Tai following Weiss and Raven covering their rear. Winter's attention was set onto their path, selecting the best route. Her sister showed her inexperience when she failed to watch for an attack from above, and didn't see the beowolf drop from the tree above her sister.

Fortunately, Tai spotted it. The more experienced huntsman vaulted completely over the surprised girl and intercepted the grimm in the air, above Winter. He struck under its chin with a forearm, forcing the jaws shut and stifling the howl. He twisted in the air, landing on top of the creature and driving a knee into its belly. He rolled off of it just as Winter's saber split its head.

"You have to look up, as well as around," Taiyang chided her, gently and quietly. Winter appeared ready to deliver a more stinging rebuke, but clearly changed her mind due to the circumstances. Around them, low growls sounded.

"No use trying for subtlety now," Raven pointed out, with as much excitement as somebody discussing their favorite sandwich.

"Agreed," Winter stated. "Move!"

Winter sprinted up the slope. Tai gave Weiss a shove, when the girl hesitated. To her credit, she didn't stay confused for very long, running as fast as her short stature allowed. Raven and Taiyang took up positions to either side and slightly behind the younger girl. The rush drew the attention of more grimm, but the party was more than ready. Winter was a whirlwind of steel, cutting through those creatures that tried to head them off. Raven and Taiyang dispatched those that approached for the side and the party was moving too fast for the grimm to close from behind them. Then, they were over the ridge-line and facing their foe.

Cinder was no fool, greeting the party with a gout of flame. Winter was also no fool, forming a wall of ice. Backed by the Fall Maiden's powers, the flame quickly melted through the wall, but it gave the party precious time to close the distance. The goliaths turned to face the threat while more lesser grimm converged on the area.

"Weiss...Rufus...go!" Winter snapped.

The rat needed no further prompting; scampering out of Weiss' pocket and scrambling up her blouse to stand on her shoulder and blow a raspberry at the giant grimm. He then executed a series of cartwheels, from her right shoulder, across the back of her neck and onto her left shoulder, finishing by taking a knee and raising his arms to the air, as if he were a stage performer mugging for an audience.

Cinder formed her bow and launched three arrows at either Weiss or Rufus...Taiyang couldn't be sure of her target. Weiss formed a glyph in the air in their path and executed a series of back flips. Between the acrobatics and the glyphs, the girl managed to avoid the arrows. More impressively, Rufus executed a series of jumps, first bouncing off of the girl's feet, then her head, and managed to stay with her as she retreated. However, most of Tai's attention was on the goliaths. While they all initially flinched away, the seeker on each one's head pulsed with a yellowish light, which flowed down their tentacles to the where the appendages vanished into the goliaths' ears. The giant grimm turned and continued their advance.

"Cinder countered Rufus!" Taiyang bellowed. Now it was his turn to dodge arrows. He sidestepped one, ducked the second and seized the third. Spinning around, the hurled it back with the same force it had come. Cinder swatted it aside with a contemptuous expression.

"We have to leave!" Winter shouted. Another beowolf pounced on her; and was bisected for its efforts. "We can't accomplish anything here!"

Raven eliminated an Ursa with two powerful slashes, sheathed her blade, then re-drew, slashing at the air. Weiss formed an ice wall between the bandit and the goliaths...just in time. Cinder threw fire again, but the barrier held for a few, precious seconds. The other three broke for the portal that was forming. Above them, screams of fury sounded.

Tai noted griffons swooping in to the attack, but he judged he would reach the portal before they reached him. Weiss didn't have the sprinting speed that he did but Winter was ready for this. The older Schnee grabbed her sister and threw herself into a front roll, kicking out and launching Weiss towards the portal. Her aim was a little off, or perhaps Weiss' shocked reaction knocked her off course. She flew wide of the opening but Raven kicked the girl back on course. The younger Schnee would experience a great deal of pain, but she would survive to experience it.

The delay cost Winter. A griffon swept down on her but Taiyang delivered a spinning kick, knocking it off its mark and causing it to bury its beak in the ground. He managed to keep moving after his strike, lurching towards the sanctuary offered by the portal. To the side, Cinder melted through Weiss' ice wall and pulled her bow again. Tai was too far away to intervene; one arrow stuck into Winter's shoulder and another buried itself in her thigh. Although the officer was unable to keep from shrieking in pain and shock, she somehow kept moving, tumbling into the portal with Raven giving her a solid shove to get her through. Taiyang dove for it and felt the wind of another arrow hiss past his butt while another glanced off of his dust-enhanced calf. Raven grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him along, even as another griffon dove at them.

Then...they were in Kuchinashi.

* * *

Qrow was hardly the carefree fool that he portrayed to the general public; that was a persona that he deliberately showed so that most people would underestimate him. Those who had learned under him, or had crossed swords with him, knew better, but he still kept up the effort; he thrived on being dismissed lightly.

That, and it enhanced his admittedly sarcastic sense of humor.

However, when he had a mission to perform, he put in a level of work and forethought that would shock a casual acquaintance. He was fully aware that Taiyang's party...he refused to consider it Winter's party, even though she was technically in command...would likely run into extreme opposition. He knew that even though Tai was showing some eroding of his morals, there would be no way his old teammate would leave someone behind. He also knew that Raven was aware that her level of pay would be influenced by how many of this band returned, and was pretty sure that Winter wasn't about to cut, run, and leave the others to fend for themselves. He also knew that Raven's portals didn't only work for friends; a pursuer right on her heels could come through as well.

For a few moments, he let his mind wander back to what now seemed to be the carefree days at Beacon, when Team STRQ had become first the preeminent team of its year, then a legend. It had seemed so simple back then, they had been formed into a powerful team and had worked out how to combine themselves into a powerful force. Professor Ozpin had shown him a way different from murder and robbery, and he thought that Raven had realized it to. When Tai and Raven started their affair, he had thought only good could come of it, another sign that Raven was turning her back on their old life.

He shook his head and forced his thoughts back to the here and now. He had set himself up in an open plaza, conveniently close to where Colonel Arvaken had stationed his reserves. This close to the military infrastructure (Qrow flinched to use the term, even in his thoughts) it was easy to arrange for sharpshooters and medics to be on alert, close by. The roads leading into the plaza had been blocked off and soldiers were in the surrounding buildings, with open fields of fire. Preparations made, Qrow found a parasol and a comfortable chair and settled in for a nap. It was mid-morning when a familiar feeling of his hair standing up on the back of his neck woke him.

Sure enough, a red cut had appeared in the air. He kicked the chair and parasol out of the way and backed up just enough to put the perfect distance between himself and the widening hole. He heard the excited shouts of soldiers and medics in the surrounding buildings. He grimaced at that; seasoned huntsmen didn't waste time and breath by shouting, everyone should be rolling without the noise.

Moments later, Weiss flew through the portal and hit the ground hard. While he gave her credit for keeping her grip on her weapon and scrambled to her feet, he noted that she hadn't kept moving. She wasn't an idiot, she just needed time and experience to become a true huntress...assuming that the experience didn't get her killed.

The next through the portal was Winter; the older Schnee managed to keep her feet and stumble forward, despite sporting an arrow in a shoulder and another in a thigh.

"Medic!" Qrow roared, grabbing the huntress and pulling her out of the line of travel from the portal. For a moment, he flinched, chastising himself for shouting for assistance, when he had just mentally chided the soldiers in the area for not being silent. He consoled himself by telling himself that he was only compensating for the non-professionals around him. He set her on the ground as gently as he could while keeping an eye on the portal.

Next came Taiyang, hitting the ground and rolling hard to his left, shouting that they had griffons coming through. Raven was right on his heels, diving and rolling to her left, just like the old days of Team STRQ.

No semblance is perfect; in a perfect world, Raven's semblance would allow her to create a portal to anywhere she had seen, or to anyone she had known. At the very least, she would have more say in whom she could portal to. Another problem with her semblance was that the portals didn't shut down immediately when she willed them. They always remained open for several seconds and Qrow admitted that he wasn't enough of a scholar or philosopher to determine why. All he knew was the practical aspects, which was a hot extraction, like this was, often let the closest pursuers follow. Sure enough, a flying grimm burst through the portal and seemed completely confused with its new surroundings.

Qrow was in no mood to watch the thing; while he didn't much care for Winter Schnee, she was on his side and was wounded. He activated the lever on his sword and rushed forward, Harbinger's familiar rattles as it shifted into scythe form reassured the man. Before any of the soldiers could react, Qrow jumped and slashed, splitting the creature in two. Not waiting to see it dissipate, he turned to note that a medic had already reached Winter. He turned again and kept his eyes on the portal for the endless seconds it took to vanish. With the doorway to danger gone, he sauntered towards Weiss while he allowed his scythe to return to its sword form.

"Winter..." she gasped, sheathing her blade and rushing towards her sister. Qrow caught her by the arm.

"Medical professionals are seeing to her, right now," he told her, when she struggled and was ready to protest. "Unless you're a better medic than them, you'll only be in their way. Wait until they call for you."

For a moment or two, she looked like she was ready to draw her weapon and fight her way to her sister, but she calmed before doing so. She was young and inexperienced, not stupid. She nodded, so Qrow released her. After noting that she stood a couple of steps back from where the medics were at work, showing as much patience as an eighteen year old could (and admittedly more than he would have at that age) he turned to the more difficult task.

While his sister regarded him with the same, slightly antagonistic expression she had favored him with for nearly two decades, Taiyang glared daggers in his direction. Heaving a large sigh, he braced himself for a very unpleasant experience, knowing that he very well could have stepped over the line that the blonde man was willing to forgive, and walked forward to face the music. Colonel Arvaken showed up and interrupted it.

"What happened?" He asked the two hunters who had just arrived.

"The goliaths are no longer frightened by the rodent," Tai told him, after glancing at Raven and receiving a shrug, indicating that she'd rather have him talk. "When Rufus tried to frighten them, they flinched, but the seekers started glowing and they didn't flee. Cinder didn't take our attempt very kindly."

"How is the team?"

"You can see that Winter is wounded, badly," Tai snarled. "The rest of us only have some scrapes and bruises."

"Very well, I need the two of you to join with the faunus company."

"Was it worth it?" Taiyang snapped at him. "You nearly got us all killed, on the off chance that it would delay the goliaths! Was it worth it?"

"Yes!" The colonel snapped at the huntsman. "Had this mission succeeded, the goliaths would have been delayed, maybe several hours! If you haven't noticed, we get stronger with every hour that passes! Now, if you want to pocket you lien and leave, do so! If you want to continue your employment, go to the faunus company and prepare for action! This isn't finished yet!"

"Very well," Taiyang sighed. "I've pledged to this mission, I'll finish it. I'll earn my lien."

For a moment, the colonel looked like he was ready to say something. In the end, he merely nodded.

"I'll come along," Qrow announced. "You don't have to pay me for it. I'll collect the ice princess once she's sure her sister will recover."

"You're good at that," Tai grumbled at him. "Another child put into the firing line."

"Maybe we should get this aired out right here," Qrow snapped back, arms crossed and looking his old teammate up and down. "You got a problem with me telling Ruby that the answers might be found here. Okay, I'll give you that beef."

"Telling her that the answers might be found here," Taiyang mimicked him, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Try manipulating her into taking a long, dangerous trip across two continents! Try telling her about the out-of-the way routes, where nobody asks questions, but making sure that a party of students would be alone and vulnerable."

"Maybe this isn't the place to discuss this," Qrow grumbled.

"Why not?" Tai spat. "You said we should get it out in the open!"

"Because she did what she did, I was able to send one of the enemy's top agents running for home!" Qrow countered him. "And you were able to track him to her. We know where Salem is at, thanks to your daughter."

"Thanks to you manipulating her into it," Tai countered him. "Tell me, did you tell her about Tyrian and Salem before she left? Did you tell her that she could have caught a ship directly to Wind Path, but you needed her out between the kingdoms and vulnerable? Did you tell her the only reason she was making the trip was to be bait?"

Qrow couldn't answer; couldn't bring himself to meet the other man's eyes.

"Didn't think so," Tai snarled. Turning to Raven, he said, "let's go earn our lien and get out of here."

"Now wait a minute," Qrow charged forward, catching Taiyang's arm. "I did what I had to do! I did what I did because I care for the world, not just for a young girl that I love as much as if she were my own daughter!"

"And giving her a choice in the matter might have meant that she wouldn't play her part. It might have meant that she wasn't a little puppet on your strings!" Taiyang roared back, pointedly removing the hand from his arm.

"It was the right thing to do!"

"Did I ever sound like that?" Taiyang demanded of Raven.

"All the time," she confirmed.

"Dust! I'm beginning to see what you went through!"

"But what about your other daughter?" Qrow growled. "Why did you try to keep me from telling Yang where to find her mother? Who was keeping the truth away in that case?"

"It's a different case and you know it!" Tai protested. "Raven's dangerous, you admitted it yourself."

"I'm right here, you know." Raven pointed out, with a roll of her eyes.

"I wanted to make sure that Yang was ready before she left to search for her," Tai continued, as if Raven had never spoken. "I didn't trick a sixteen year old girl, with three companions who weren't much older than her, into being bait!"

"I went with them myself!" Qrow roared. "I put myself at risk to protect those kids!"

"Just like you protected the Fall Maiden," Taiyang snarled.

That was it. Qrow was never known for keeping his temper and that one hurt more than he cared to admit. The memory of Amber, barely breathing, in his arms after those three had fled made his vision turn red. His fist was on its way to Taiyang's jaw before he thought about it.

He connected; sort of. Taiyang may have dedicated most of the last two decades to teaching, but he still spent enough time in the field that he wasn't about to get caught flat-footed. He rolled his head with the punch and his left fist came up in a blur. It was all that Qrow could do to parry the strike away and dodge the follow-up knee. Then...it was on.

For just a split second, his right palm itched to grab Harbinger's hilt, but he rejected the notion even as it appeared. He might be angry enough to beat Taiyang into a pulp, but it would take more than heated words to make him draw a blade on the other man. Qrow was the better huntsman; the years spent on missions for Ozpin had hardened him well beyond the typical huntsman. If he drew his weapon, he could beat the angry blonde man...but it wouldn't be easy or without cost. There would be no defeating Tai...he would have to inflict serious injuries to stop him. Unwilling to do so, he found himself facing the man hand-to-hand and against Taiyang Xiao Long, that was a losing proposition for anyone.

Still, he was determined to get his shots in.

Qrow lashed out with a kick, which Tia blocked to one side so Qrow used the momentum to spin and throw a back-fist. Tai parried that one up and stepped in close. Qrow's reaction time meant that he only took a glancing shot to his kidney, but it reminded him just how dangerous an unarmed man could be. His return punch glanced off of Tai's shoulder, but the time and effort the blonde had to put into making sure it didn't catch him on the chin gave Qrow the time he needed to set himself.

He had a chance to come out on top; the first shot he had thrown had caught Tai on the right eye and it would soon start to swell. If he could keep to Tai's right, where his vision would start to go cloudy, he had a chance. Idly wondering why the bystanders weren't breaking up the fight, he launched a blistering series of punches and kicks.

Of course, Tai was ready for them. The teacher seldom blocked strikes; he parried them slightly away from his body and launched rapid counter-punches. Qrow was skilled enough that nobody could avoid all of the strikes; but Tai was more than capable of getting his own in. While Qrow was up to facing the man's punches and kicks, he had somehow forgotten how Tai had woven grappling into his style. He remembered it when Tai accepted a punch to the stomach, stepped in close, clenched him up and drove two knee strikes into his gut before Qrow could break free. The aging huntsman was winded, but not so winded that he couldn't force himself to keep up the punches and kicks, preventing Tai from closing in and finishing him off. He forced himself to smirk at his opponent, trying to fool him into thinking that he wasn't hurt.

He didn't know if Tai was fooled or not...probably not...but the blonde man took the offensive, slipping in to deliver a combination then backing off quickly, only to advance again. Qrow was kept off balance despite his superior reach, unable to rest enough to catch his breath. His opponent accepted a shot to the gut in return for landing two, hard elbows in return. Qrow got one in to the side of Tia's head but got tied up again, catching a knee in the gut and another to his chin. Seeing sparks, Qrow tried his last trick, feinting at Tai's left side before dashing to the man's right.

Of course, the bastard was waiting for just that move.

Taiyang didn't just bock the punch; he caught the wrist and pulled Qrow in very close. Before the huntsman grasped what was about to happen, his ankles had been swept out from under him, he was face-down on the ground and Taiyang was on top of him. Tia's arm went around his throat and the teacher's legs hooked Qrow's. This was no sophisticated, carotid artery choke, Tai was too angry for that. This was a brutal, crude, rear-naked choke. As his breathing was cut off, Qrow remembered that while aura protected against cuts, stabs and impacts, it didn't protect against the slow pressure that closed off the windpipe.

"You arrogant bastard!" Taiyang hissed in his ear. "You couldn't protect the Spring Maiden, with all her powers, from that bunch but you decided you would be enough to protect Ruby!"

Qrow had to admit that the man had a point, but the undeniable logic of the argument wasn't as compelling as the fact that he couldn't breath, couldn't dislodge the very angry father and his vision was already getting hazy.

"Enough!" A familiar, and usually unwelcome, voice snapped.

Tai absorbed an impact that Qrow felt, then his grip loosened. Something...or someone...struggled to pull the man off of him and Qrow helped, rolling over, getting his feet between himself and his assailant and kicking the man away. Gasping for breath, he lurched to his feet but suddenly gravity decided to act sideways, sending him stumbling backwards to find himself leaning against a wall. He looked at the structure and sure enough, saw a black glyph, that pulled at him, on the surface. Looking forward, he saw Weiss standing directly in front of him, rapier drawn. Farther away, Taiyang was climbing to his feet with Raven, hand on her hilt, keeping in between the two antagonists.

"Are the two of you about finished here?" Raven's voice was pure ice.

Qrow's temper was up; he was tempted to continue the altercation but he was too much the professional for that. Taiyang wasn't his enemy; his enemies were currently swarming towards this city. Continuing the fight would only erode two blue-chips in the defense.

Besides that, at the moment he would put even lien on the ice princess being able to take him.

"I've had enough," Tai grumbled, although the look he gave Qrow told the huntsman that the altercation would have a verbal phase before too much longer.

"I'd rather fight grimm than a teammate," Qrow told his sister.

"Just as well," she scowled between the two men. "Scouts have spotted grimm closing in at this time. It looks like Cinder's going to wear us down with common grimm before throwing in White Fang or the goliaths. If we're going to earn our lien, Mistral is going to have to win this fight."

* * *

"It's very unusual for Kim to want to talk to all of us, at the same time, in person," Wade told his hosts. "Of course, she should be in any minute."

"Did something happen during her mission?" James Possible asked the young man. The rocket scientist was trying to act casual, leaned back on his sofa with a newspaper, but it was clear he wasn't reading.

"If anything dire happened, she would have told me when she requested the meeting," Wade told him. "Besides, I have her chipped, just like Ron. If she had been seriously injured, I would have known."

"So she must have learned something," Anne Possible concluded. "Something that requires the three of us to take some action."

The brain surgeon's musings were cut short when the front door opened, admitting the subject of the conversation into the house.

"Mom, Dad, Wade, you're all here," she noted. "Good."

"We're always here to help out," James told his daughter. "You know that, so how was the mission?"

"Rough," Kim answered, flopping onto a chair. "But that's not the reason I needed to talk to all of you."

Kim took a few moments to either catch her breath, or maybe to gather her thoughts. Anne noted that her daughter looked like she had just gone through a rough day; the young woman sported minor bruising and scrapes on her face and arms, and several tears in her mission gear. However, she waited patiently, knowing that Kim would tell them what was on her mind as soon as she was ready.

"I saw Ron again," the heroine told the three and pulled a small object out of a pouch. "He gave me this." She tossed the device to Wade. "As near as I can figure, that is what passes for a smart phone where Ron is at, this Remnant place."

"Then it should be turned over to either Global Justice or the NSA," James pointed out. "They'll want to examine it."

"They'll get their chance," Kim told them. "Ron...recorded a couple of messages for me." She took a few deep breaths, clearly regaining her composure. "He also recorded messages for his family and other friends. Wade, I want you to make recordings of these messages so that the people they were intended for will get them. I don't trust a government agency to take care of that."

"I can do that," Wade nodded. "Even if I can't make a data link, I can set this thing up with a camera pointed at it. It's not elegant, but I'll make sure people hear what he wanted to tell them."

"Then return it to me," Kim smiled at him. "I'll give it to Dr. Director and tell her that I kept it for awhile. No sense in both of us getting in trouble."

She then looked at her parents, once again composing her thoughts.

"One of the things that he told me was that he can't come back to Earth," she finally told them. "I'll go into greater details later, but he can only survive hear for a sort time and it causes him a great deal of pain."

"Oh dear." While James wasn't eloquent, it was clear that he felt a great deal of sympathy for the young man's plight.

"He also told me that he had intended on popping the question before he got sucked away," Kim told them, her voice was very controlled as she spoke. "He had even bought the ring, and he passed it on to me with the device...which is called a scroll, by the way."

"Kimmie," Anne got up and put a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder. "It must be very hard on you to hear this."

"It is," Kim admitted, showing more determination than sorrow. "That's why I needed to talk to the two of you, and why I'm going to be concentrating on rebuilding Drakken's mechanism, starting tomorrow."

The two doctors could only look at her, puzzled.

"It's only logical," she told them. "Ron was going to ask me the question, and I would have said yes. I still intend on hearing the question and I still intend on answering him. Since he can't return to Earth, I'll just have to go to Remnant."

* * *

 _A/N: As always, bit thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	39. Chapter 39

Winter Schnee might be out of action, but Colonel Arvaken was hardly a slouch when it came to commanding troops.

Raven Branwen came to that, rather reluctant, conclusion within the first hour of the latest assault on Kuchinashi. She chided herself; while she had served with Winter, she had assumed that the colonel was simply riding the Atlesian's capabilities. Instead, he had utilized her skills like a master craftsman utilizing a tool. Seeing the narrow picture, and not the forces that affected it, was a good way for a bandit to die young...or perhaps lose her tribe when larger forces were in play. She was far too old for such youthful oversights and her tribe had paid a horrible price for it. However, she was also old enough to not waste time in self-recrimination. What was done was done and it was time to learn from the experience and move on.

Much as the colonel had predicted, the first attack consisted of waves of lesser grimm, engaging the defenders at multiple points. The first line of defenders were able to hold these attacks, although there were a few casualties. There was a great deal of grumbling about the colonel only allowing half of the crew-served weapons to fire, which would have kept the casualties even lower. However, Cinder adapted her attack.

Lesser grimm swarmed the walls again, to be met by a hail of fire. This time, griffons and nevermores swept onto the rapid-fire weapons that had previously revealed themselves. Colonel Arvaken released the other weapons to fire upon the new threat, there were more losses. Several crews were shredded before the flying threat was eliminated while Weiss, Qrow, Taiyang and other hunters chaffed at the restraints placed upon them. Raven, on the other hand, understood. The colonel didn't like to lose soldiers under his command...she could relate as her power derived from the size of her tribe...but he had to think with his head and not with his emotions. He was forcing Cinder to expose her more valuable assets so that he could eliminate them.

The current grimm swarm was finally annihilated and the colonel adjusted again; ordering the crew-served weapons to change locations in turns, keeping some in operation while the others shifted. Fresh soldiers stood in for the fallen crews, wounded were evacuated and observers watched for Cinder's next move.

Salem was no fool and would not allow her forces to be led by a fool. Cinder sent a swarm of lancers high above the city, beyond the effective range of the heaviest of the weapons the colonel had utilized up to that point. Next, she unleased a ground-based grimm swarm led by ursa, who could absorb a great deal of punishment. At first, the colonel ordered his crew-served weapons to hold their fire, but the ursa sheltered the grimm following them. Realizing that the horde could potentially gain the wall, he ordered these powerful weapons to open fire. As expected, the lancers first swept to attack them. Raven could hear the frustration in Arvaken's voice as he ordered the hunters, and the faunus company, to defend the crew-served weapons.

"I don't understand," Weiss complained. She formed a glyph that deflected a lancer's harpoon. "The siege cannon can reach the lancers, even when they were hovering. I know they have fragmentation shells, so why didn't the colonel use them?"

"They're the key to the whole defense," Taiyang grabbed the harpoon in question and yanked the monstrous insect from the sky.

"If Cinder brings the goliaths onto the field while those cannon are still in operation, they'll eliminate the goliaths and we've won the battle," Qrow continued, sheering one of the lancers wings off, then skipping back to avoid a slashing claw.

"But Cinder won't bring the goliaths forward until she's sure there's no surprises," Raven concluded, decapitating the distracted grimm. "These attacks are intended to make the colonel reveal what assets he has."

The weapon they were defending cut loose on another pair of ursa, dropping them and allowing the soldiers nearby to eliminate the beowolves and creeps that had sheltered behind the larger grimm.

"That still doesn't explain it," Weiss protested, until Zwei's bark and pointed nose directed her attention back to the sky. A griffon was now swooping at her. The girl formed another glyph; one that looked like an over-sized clock face, then moved so quickly that Raven had difficulty following her movement. She sidestepped the beast's claws and allowed her blade to score its flank as it swept by. Wounded, it thrashed in pain and rage until Qrow finished it off.

"If he uses the siege cannon and we can protect them, she'll give up the attack," Weiss continued, but kept her attention on her surroundings this time. "If Cinder won't bring up her goliaths if she knows they're here, why not let her know?"

"Because the goliaths won't just vanish if Cinder pulls back," Qrow told her. "Cinder has assembled a large host here and if it goes away, it will show up somewhere else. Right now, we have an advantage so Arvaken's trying to goad her into an attack."

"It's better to deal with a beowolf alpha at a time and place of your choosing, than have a minor beowolf catch you by surprise," Raven finished.

"You remember Professor Port's classes," Taiyang offered a slight grin. "Of course, he was just a teachers' assistant back then."

"But still had an ego big enough to fill the ballroom," Raven added, also offering a smile.

"It ain't arrogance when you can back it up," Qrow finished. "But I think we've given the little ice princess here the answer, and the lesson, she was looking for."

As much as Weiss hated the nickname, she had to admit that she was picking up a great deal of practical knowledge from the old team...and that she still had a great deal to learn.

"But why doesn't she attack anyway?" Weiss asked, deciding that it was better to ask a question and get corrected than misunderstand something vital. "If she can mass-produce grimm, why not throw goliaths at the wall, let them get eliminated, then make some more to attack somewhere else?"

"She can mass-produce lesser grimm," Qrow told her. "I don't understand everything, but from what I've seen, the more capable the grimm, the more effort and resources go into creating it. As powerful as Salem is, she isn't infinite. If she was, we wouldn't be here."

Raven pointedly cleared her throat.

"Okay, my sister disagrees with me." Qrow admitted.

"She's powerful enough to throw any number of grimm that she wants to at us," Raven told Weiss. "She just has something other than obliterating humanity as her goal."

"What's that?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But I spied on behalf of Ozpin a great deal, back when I was still a fool, and from what I've seen, her power is unstoppable. The only thing that's restraining her is...herself."

"And I've spent even more time scouting her," Qrow countered his sister. "Not just to avoid her, but to warn Ozpin about what she was up to. She isn't all powerful; if we can lock down her location, and then the kingdoms were to band together, she wouldn't have a chance."

"But the kingdoms will never band together," Raven scowled at her brother. "Not long enough to get the job done. That's where the two of us are different; I understand human nature while you insist on seeing the world through rose-colored lenses. We're all self-serving, I'm just honest about it."

"Has this argument been going on for very long?" Weiss asked the two.

"Since about our second year at Beacon," Taiyang answered. "It's just a whole lot more civil right now."

"It's come to blows on more than one occasion," Raven confirmed. "Until we all figured out that fighting, at lease physically, wasn't accomplishing anything. Nor will sitting here talking about it."

She made a pointed gesture around them, prompting the others to look around. Not all of the hunters' teams were as effective as they had been. The crews of several weapons had been eliminated, and platoons from the faunus company were counterattacking the rampaging grimm, driving them away while fresh soldiers re-crewed the weapons.

"That's the problem with using grimm," Taiyang pointed out. "At the end of they day, they're too wired to attack people. After those griffons killed the crew, it would have done us more harm if they would have destroyed the weapons themselves instead of attacking the people around them."

"That's odd," Raven quipped. "You always said that people were more valuable than things."

"They are," he snapped back, clearly showing that certain things were off limits. "But in this case, we have reserve crews to take up the heavier weapons, but we don't have more weapons."

"But I thought that grimm attacked people and the things we make," Weiss protested. "That's why we can't have cross-country cables and remote towers. Why didn't they destroy the weapons instead of looking for more people?"

"Because they prefer to attack people," Taiyang told her. "Don't they teach than in Beacon anymore?"

"She only got part way through her first year," Qrow reminded him.

"Okay, lesson time," the teacher told her. "Grimm seem to have a compulsion to attack both man and his creations, but the compulsion to attack man is stronger. A grimm will rush kilometers to attack a person, even when an empty building or other manufactured item is right at hand."

"Usually," Qrow corrected him. "As they get older, they seem to get smarter. Usually, that means that they've figured out that a little patience will bag them more humans. But every once in awhile, you run into one that goes beyond being clever about attacking people and find one that seems right down smart, maybe even has a sense of self preservation. Dr. Oobleck has studied it more than I have, but he's right. Most grimm die very young, but the biggest and the oldest are the most dangerous, because they're the smartest. Those goliaths and seers don't just represent a major investment in resources and effort, they represent an investment in time. If they're lost, and Cinder doesn't have a devastated kingdom to show? Well, I wouldn't want to be her, reporting to Salem."

"I wouldn't ever want to report a failure to Salem," Raven told him. "But I don't think that the forces she's assembled here amount to even a fraction of what Salem could throw at us. She has something else in mind, but none of us have been able to figure out what it is."

"I have one more question," Weiss interrupted, and was relieved to see the three adults look at her with curiosity rather than irritation. "How to you three communicate when there isn't a teen handy to lecture?"

For a moment, three scowls were directed her way. Then, one by one, all three saw the humor in the situation.

"We usually argue," Tai told her. "It gets loud and profane."

"To be honest, up until the time Qrow walked into the briefing room, the three of us haven't been together for over ten years," Raven admitted.

"But you're such a strong team!" Weiss protested. "Why can't you get along."

The levity suddenly vanished. However, the three didn't seem angry so much as regretful and sad.

"Sometimes, competence isn't enough," Qrow told her. "We have our differences. Tai and I can usually tolerate each other but right now, the only thing that's keeping the three of us functioning as a team is the fact that we all want to see this mission succeed. Once it's over, we're probably all going to head our separate ways."

"Taiyang!" Colonel Arvaken's voice sounded over the blonde man's scroll. "Cinder seems to be preparing for another assault, and this appears to be her main effort. Take your team to point alpha two."

"That's one of the siege cannon," Qrow noted.

"Your mission is to guard this weapon, even at the cost of your lives!"

"Understood," Taiyang answered the commander. The levity of the past seconds, even the civility of the last several minutes, drained from his tone and expression. "I know exactly what our lives are worth."

Much to Weiss' surprise, Taiyang didn't lead them at a sprint to their assigned location; he moved at a rapid jog, which didn't seem to surprise the other two. Of course, Weiss was by far the shortest of the group, so she had to run to keep up. Still, it was an easy pace.

"It doesn't do any good to arrive too tired to fight," Qrow told her, noting her confusion. "The scouts gave us time, so Tai isn't about to make us sprint."

Soon, they were at the location in question. It was on a corner, whose buildings must have been damaged during the previous assault. A very large cannon, sitting on a platform in the center of what appeared to be a metal latticework, sat under canvas tarps. From a distance, Weiss noted that rubble and dust had been scattered on the tarp.

"You must be Taiyang Xiao Long," a young man, wearing a lieutenant's uniform, greeted the blonde man. "I'm lieutenant Topcu. I take it that you're assigned to defend this gun."

"That's our mission," Tai assured him, neither friendly nor confrontational.

"You'll note that we have high buildings to the northwest and the southeast of our position," the junior officer gestured to the structures in question. "They're higher than the carriage, even at full extension. Up there, you'll gave a good overview of any attacking force and since you're huntsmen, you should be able to jump to the gun, if needed."

"Good call," Tai offered him a slight nod of approval.

"Be careful if you take the building to the southeast," the lieutenant warned. "We had a crew-served weapon up there during the last assault. The crew relocated it, but the grimm might have that building targeted."

"Fair warning," Tai thanked him. "But fighting grimm is what we're here to do. Qrow, you and the girl take the northwest building. Raven and I have the southeast."

"Why is he taking a building that he knows the grimm will target?" Weiss asked Qrow, as the two of them rushed into the northwest building.

"He doesn't know they will," Qrow shrugged. He found an elevator and tried the button, only to learn that the conveyance was out of order. "Just my luck," he grumbled.

"But if there was a weapon there..." she pointed out, as they found a stairway and started up.

"Cinder's no idiot," Qrow interrupted her. "And she knows that the colonel isn't an idiot. She knows that he's going to shift his assets to make it harder for her to target them. That building may be as safe as anywhere in Kuchinashi...or it could be the most dangerous place in the city. Tai doesn't have the field experience that I do, but he can grasp the obvious. There's no way of knowing if Cinder's going to target that building or not, so he's just concentrating on the mission."

"Okay, why did the colonel put him in charge if you have more experience?"

"Because the colonel trusts him," Qrow shrugged. "Look, he might have a case of the a...well, let's just say that he's not his usual self right now, but he's used to dealing with people. He's not happy with the colonel...or pretty much anyone right now, but he'll do what's expected of him. Sometimes, pure competence isn't as important as loyalty."

Weiss fell silent, both because her questions had been answered and because she needed to save her breath to rush up the stairs. They reached the top of the stairs and found a locked hatch providing access to the roof. Without a second thought, the huntsman cut the lock and climbed through the hatch. Weiss was on his heels.

Much as the lieutenant had suggested, the rooftop gave the two a view over the city walls and to the countryside beyond. Looking over the edge, Weiss noted that perhaps thirty members of the faunus company had arrived in the area. Most of the faunus took up positions around the disguised weapon while two went into the building that she and Qrow occupied. Qrow suddenly started to mutter curses under his breath.

"What is it?" She demanded, looking beyond the city walls, trying to spot what had him upset.

"Look over there," he gestured towards the other rooftop, where Taiyang and Raven had just appeared.

"What?"

"Those two are only now getting to the roof," he grumbled. "That means they had a working elevator in that building. How did he know?"

Shaking her head at what could irritate the older huntsman, Weiss returned her attention to the space beyond the city walls, and the skies above her. Outside the city, she could see the forms of flying grimm starting to mass in the air above the distant wood-line

"Weiss!" A familiar voice sounded from behind her. She spun to see...

"Blake!" The two RWBY members shared a quick hug. Weiss noted that Sun was also present. "What brings the two of you here?"

"We got assigned to this gun," Blake told her. "Since Sun and I can jump, we came up high while the rest of my platoon will guard it against ground attack."

"We can use all the help we can get," Qrow mentioned, now staring intently at the rising flock of grimm. "Those things are getting ready to attack."

"Attention all units," Colonel Arvaken's voice sounded form everyone's scroll. "The grimm appear to be making their main assault. Advanced scouts report that the goliaths are even now approaching the city. This could very well be the key moment of our battle."

Beyond the city wall, the flock of flying grimm swept towards the city. Behind and below them, the goliaths didn't emerge from the treeline, they emerged from the low hills and valleys beyond.

"Whoa, those things ARE big," Sun grumbled.

"But we have plans for them," Weiss assured him...and herself.

"Let's hope they're good plans," Blake murmured.

She was interrupted when the flying grimm again flew over the city. Colonel Arvaken ordered his crew -served weapons into action. Half would open fire upon the flying grimm, then immediately relocate while the other half fired, covering their movements. Soldiers also fired upon the flying grimm, reducing their numbers.

"This isn't doing anything for the grimm on the ground," Blake told them, pointing to where the goliaths, preceded by a horde of running grimm, were closing upon the walls.

"If I was the colonel, I'd wait until the goliaths were halfway between the hills that can cover them and the walls before unleashing the siege weapons," Qrow told the youngsters around him. "Right...about..."

"Hunters, stand by," the aforementioned colonel's voice sounded over the scrolls. "Siege battery, engage the goliaths."

At ground level, the tarp was ripped away from the weapon and the latticework of metal began to unfold, lifting the gun platform into the air. Once it was above the level of the city walls, Weiss could hear the lieutenant shouting orders, which she could not understand. A shot quickly fired from the weapon, the recoil causing the support to retract and bring the gun back to ground level. Looking towards the land assault in the distance, Weiss saw the shell send a fountain of dirt skyward...perhaps a hundred meters behind the oncoming goliaths. Nearer at hand, griffons and nevermores broke off their attack on the crew-served weapons and closed on the heavy cannon's general location.

Below, the crew reloaded the weapon as soon as it reached the ground level, then the platform extended skywards again.

"Light 'em up!" Qrow snapped, firing dust rounds on the converging creatures. Blake followed suit and Sun unlimbered his gun-chucks. Below, the faunus platoon open fired as well. Most of the rounds had little or no effect on the oncoming, large grimm but a crew-served weapon locked onto and dropped a large nevermore.

The massive cannon fired again and Weiss saw a goliath explode in a blast of darkness from a direct shot to its head. The grimm were looking for the cannon, and after it fired the sky seemed to grow dark with converging griffons and nevermores.

"Just shooting isn't cutting it!" Qrow snapped. The man extended his sword into its scythe form and jumped from the rooftop, decapitating a griffon and landing on the descending gun platform. From the other rooftop, Weiss saw Taiyang vault onto a nevermore's neck and twist its head, forcing it into a powerful dive. Raven was also leaping from her rooftop, but Weiss' attention was caught by another swooping griffon.

Weiss formed a glyph in the creature's path and jumped to it. The griffon seemed to approve of this development, now targeting the small woman now conveniently in front of it. With its attention firmly set, she formed a glyph behind it, launched herself from the one she was on and bounced off of the new symbol to land on the creature's back. It roared in rage, but she formed a dark glyph on its head, giving her stability and holding her tight to the creature, even though it executed a barrel roll. Taking careful aim, she thrust Myrtenaster into its eye, then thumbed the chamber and released a gout of flame.

The roars and wild maneuvering promptly ceased.

She took a moment on the dissolving body to re-orient herself to her surroundings. Finding the gun, once again at ground level, she formed a series of glyphs and jumped between them to rejoin her team. When she arrived, most of the faunus had formed a circle around the weapon, firing at the approaching grimm, while Qrow and Raven dealt with the more powerful creatures that managed to get through the barrage. Above, Taiyang forced the nevermore downward, driving it to crash into the street. Sun and Blake, working together, lashed a griffon's wings to its body with Gambol Shroud's cord, causing it to fall to the ground where they quickly dispatched the stunned and restrained beast.

"Our orders are to displace!" Lieutenant Topcu told them. "I'm transmitting our new location!"

Weiss felt her scroll buzz with the incoming data, and heard the rest of her team's devices chirp. Around them, the gun crew uncoupled the weapon from the lifting platform and extended wheels, while a heavy tractor pulled out of a nearby garage and backed to the weapon.

"Blake, Sun, go with the weapon!" Ghira Belladona shouted at the two young faunus who had just rejoined the group. "We'll stay here; the grimm will be focused on us."

Blake gave a grimm nod to her father. The faunus continued their barrage while the gun crew piled into a couple of personnel carriers and the tractor pulled the gun off of its platform. Qrow jumped onto the cannon, and the rest of the team followed suit. A couple of griffons attacked the moving cannon but were quickly dispatched by the reinforced team. As Ghira had predicted, most of the grimm ignored the moving vehicles and continued their attack on the faunus.

"Will they be okay?" Weiss shouted at Blake.

Before her teammate could respond, a large gun fired in the distance.

"The second cannon in the battery," Qrow said, with a certain, stern satisfaction. "Since the flying grimm swarmed this one's location, Cinder is either going to have to come up with another swarm or she's gonna have to try to redirect this one."

"But the faunus who are fighting at our old location!" Weiss protested. "Are they going to be able to..."

She was interrupted again, this time by the sounds of several crew-served weapons opening up from where they had just left.

"I'd say they'll make it," Qrow grinned at her. "Colonel Arvaken isn't about to leave any of his units hanging out to dry."

"Unless it serves a purpose," Taiyang added. He did not support a grin.

Any further debate was precluded by setting up in the new location. The gun crew had another platform set up, and they quickly backed the gun onto it, retracted the wheels and went to work securing it. There was only one building nearby higher than the extended platform, so Taiyang led them up the stairs and onto the roof. They found a crew-served weapon already set up.

Weiss looked to their original location and saw that rapid-fire weapons were shredding the last of the flying grimm. In the distance, there were only a handful of others, so it appeared that Colonel Arvaken had successfully countered Cinder's attempt to eliminate his heavy cannon. Another shot sounded, drawing her attention to where the other gun was now descending into Kuchinashi's city clutter and out of sight. Outside the walls, the round exploded before striking its target goliath..and Weiss noted that there were now only three of the giant grimm left.

"We've just been ordered to the wall," the sergeant in charge of the local, rapid-fire weapon told them, holding a finger to his earpiece. "The enemy commander seems to be able to protect the goliath she's riding on."

The four-soldier crew quickly broke down the weapon and vanished into the stairway.

"Siege cannon one, continue to fire upon the lead goliath," Weiss heard the colonel's voice command in her ear. "Siege cannon two, fire upon the trail goliath. You will fire on my mark and we'll see if Cinder can block two rounds, from different cannon, focused on different targets."

"Up!" Lieutenant Topcu's voice sounded over the channel, even as the cannon rose into the air.

"Up!" An unfamiliar, female voice also shouted.

"On my mark!" Colonel Arvaken's voice barked. "Three...two...one...fire!"

Both cannons spat a shell. Both shells detonated before they reached their targets. The goliaths appeared shaken, but continued to advance and were now very close to being obscured by the city wall themselves.

"Alpha crew served weapons, engage the grimm!" Arvaken commanded. "Beta crews, engage the enemy commander! Let's keep her too busy protecting herself to protect her goliaths! Siege weapons, repeat your last attack!"

Below, the crew reloaded the weapon and it rose once more into the sky. The cries of "up" once again sounded over the channel, followed by the colonel's countdown. Again, the two cannon spat fire and descended to the ground. Looking back to the targets, Weiss saw Cinder intercept one of the rounds, but the other blasted the third, and final, goliath in the line apart. The cannon both descended again.

"The goliaths have reached the wall," Colonel Arvaken's voice, calmer that the situation dictated, announced over the channel. "Siege weapons will no longer have a line of fire until they retreat or breach the wall. Siege weapons, relocate."

Weiss joined Blake and Sun as they followed the older hunters down the stairs to rejoin the gun crew. They stood guard while the crew once again connected the cannon to the tractor. By the time the crew was ready to move, Ghira and his faunus platoon had rejoined them.

"How did you fare?" Taiyang asked the big man.

"We took casualties, but no fatalities," Ghira answered. "The soldiers supported us and have already evacuated the wounded."

"The enemy commander is scorching my men!" A new voice screamed over the channel. "She's blocking every shot and I have grimm swarming up the walls!"

"Pull back from her immediate area," Colonel Arvaken ordered. "Continue to engage the grimm but don't throw your lives away."

"We've taken sixty percent casualties," the voice responded. "We need reinforcement!"

"Understood," Colonel Arvaken replied. "Mr. Belladona, move your company to the threatened sector. Get on the walls but keep out of Cinder's fire. Your mission is to contain the grimm incursion to her location."

"Moving," Ghira responded. "Kali, I'll meet your platoon there."

"Agreed," Kali's voice sounded over the channel.

"Blake, Sun, stay with the gun," Ghira told his daughter, while they could hear the colonel ordering additional reserves to take up positions in the city near where the wall was threatened.

"But dad!" Blake protested. "I won't let you go into danger alone!"

"You're protecting the kingdom," he assured her. "But your mother and I will be at the wall and if a disaster strikes there, I want one of us to remain and reclaim the White Fang. Be well, daughter."

He caught Blake in a short, quick embrace, during which he looked over her head at Sun. The two shared a quick nod before releasing her and leading his group towards the wall.

Blake was clearly upset, but hopped onto the cannon when the crew towed it off of the platform. Sun joined her on the weapon while Weiss and the older hunters jumped onto the tractor. Everyone kept their eyes peeled for the short trip. Soon, they jumped off and looked for high ground, as the crew set the weapon up on a third platform. On the way up yet another high building, a series of distant explosions sounded.

"The enemy just targeted my command post!" Colonel Arvaken's voice announced over Taiyang's command channel. "I am relocating at this time! Captain Tabanca, you are in temporary command until I'm back on line!"

"Understood," another voice sounded.

"The goliaths are breaking through!" A voice shouted over Taiyang's command channel. "Estimate fifteen minutes before they breach the wall!"

"Understood," Captain Tabanca's voice sounded again. "Reserve force, take up defensive positions on the inside of the breach area. Keep a minimum of two hundred meters from the breach point."

"Already there," another voice reported.

"We've got another swarm of grimm emerging from the woods," the voice that had reported the goliaths' progress announced. "They're probably going to exploit the breach."

"Wall defenders, engage this group," Captain Tabanca ordered. "Cut their numbers but watch out for the enemy commander. Don't endanger the soldiers needlessly, we can eliminate the grimm as they come through any breach."

Weiss started as lieutenant Topcu and another man burst onto the roof.

"When the command post was damaged, we lost fire control," the lieutenant explained, but didn't wait for a response. He and the other man first set up a large scroll, which projected an image of the area outside the city. They then set up a device that appeared to be a targeting sight. The two men then established a data link of some sort with two other sights, that members of the gun crew installed on two other buildings, as well as the gun itself.

"Okay, not as accurate as our primary fire control, but it will do," the gunner grumbled to himself.

"We have more enemy emerging from the woods," came over the command channel. "They aren't grimm...they're wearing White Fang uniforms!"

"Adam!" Blake gasped.

"It makes sense," Captain Tabanca's voice replied. "The enemy wants the grimm to sustain the initial casualties at the breach. With the sun going down, the faunus will have an advantage over us in street fighting unless... Siege cannon two, we're going to target the White Fang attackers. On my command, fire upon target point beowolf, armor piercing, and shift left. We'll shift right."

"Wilco!" The lieutenant replied, tapping at his console. However, under his breath and with his microphone not keyed, he grumbled. "Armor piercing? For personnel? And that's too cl...oh!"

The cannon raised into the air.

"Up!" The lieutenant reported.

"Fire!" The captain commanded.

"No..." Blake moaned, but refused to look away from where the White Fang were about to be shredded. Tears traced down her cheeks as the cannon roared, echoed from across the city by its fellow weapon.

Out beyond the wall, two explosions sent plumes of dirt into the air...roughly halfway between the city and the advancing White Fang.

The crew reloaded the cannon and it rose into the air and fired again. This time, a shell exploded to the left of the first two while another exploded to the right.

"Get the message, you damned idiot," Lieutenant Topcu grumbled, as he taped more commands into his console.

"Siege cannon two, cease fire," Captain Tabanca ordered.

"Wilco," the lieutenant responded, then focused the sights onto the White Fang.

The other gun barked again, and this time an explosion tore the ground halfway between the line formed by the first four, and the White Fang. On the lieutenant's screen, a mass of people in White Fang uniforms could be seen milling in confusion. One man, in a dark shirt and waving a long, red-bladed sword gestured towards the city. The White Fang around him still wavered, and he cut one down.

"Adam!" Blake gasped. "How could you..."

"He stabbed you, you know," Sun pointed out.

"But that was a follower!" She protested. "Someone who was still working for him! How can he just turn on his own like that?"

"It may be a tragedy for the poor guy he just offed," Lieutenant Topcu commented. "But it's doing wonders for us; look!"

On the screen, they could see that the White Fang was scattering. A few surged forward, as Adam seemed to be demanding, but most were running away from their angry leader. Weiss flinched as the raving faunus cut two more down, which prompted the few that were advancing on the city to flee. While there was no sound with the image, she clearly saw Adam open his mouth in a roar of fury and rush in pursuit of his former followers.

"All this, just to accomplish that," Blake shook her head, sorrowfully. "If he would have only shown his true colors to everyone, this could have all been avoided."

"Or perhaps not," Weiss countered her. "If he is as deranged as he appears, it could be a good thing, letting everyone know how insane he is. If he were more subtle, more discrete..."

"This isn't the time to worry about politics," Lieutenant Topcu interrupted. "It looks like the other side as a few more flying grimm to throw our way!"

Weiss looked to the field again, and noted another flock forming above the distant woods. It was nowhere near as large as what Cinder had mustered before, but it was still troubling, especially with the majority of the crew-served weapons dedicated to containing the impending breach.

"This is Colonel Arvaken," the commander's voice sounded over Taiyang's scroll. "Report!"

"This is the wall commander," a nervous voice sounded. "The enemy commander has driven us from the breach site. We have beowolves climbing the walls, but we've limited their access to roughly two hundred meters to either side of her location. I estimate five to ten minutes before the goliaths breach the wall."

"This is Captain Tabanca," came another report. "The White Fang have dispersed and there are only two goliaths left, as well as a major swarm of lesser grimm. Both cannon remain operational."

"This is Ghira Belladona," Blake's father reported over the channel. "I've taken command of the reserves. We have those grimm that have crawled over the walls contained at this time."

More officers, from other points in the city, also reported, but Weiss only paid them partial attention. Her focus was on the approaching flock of flying grimm.

"This is Taiyang Xiao Long," Tai interrupted a report. "I have a small flock of flying grimm approaching cannon number two."

"Will you be able to defend the cannon?" Arvaken demanded.

"Yes!"

"Siege cannon, remain in place. Target the breach point as soon as the goliaths break through."

"Wilco!" Captain Tabanca responded. Lieutenant Topcu simply looked nervous.

"Lieutenant, do you have a personal weapon?" Qrow asked the jittery man.

The officer in question showed a sidearm.

"Why don't you and your trooper take cover inside the stairwell?" The huntsman suggested. "You can get to your controller quickly, if needed and you'll be out of the scrum. You're artillerymen, so getting mixed up and hurt fighting grimm hand-to-hand isn't going to do you any good."

While the officer looked hesitant about taking cover while others remained in danger, he was forced to comply with the logic. He and the NCO with him slipped into the modest shelter and waited for orders or an attack. They didn't have to wait very long.

Cinder's grimm had taken severe losses. As the latest flock flew high over the city walls, it broke in two, with half heading towards the other gun and the remainder, two nevermores and four griffons, heading towards Weiss' rooftop.

Qrow folded over his weapon to reveal the barrel and opened up. Moments later, Blake fired while Sun waited until they were closer, in range of his gun-chucks. Weiss formed glyphs and used fire dust, sending small fireballs at the lead creature. The concentrated fire had its effect, dropping the lead griffon. One of the nevermores swept upwards and unleashed quills on the rooftop, scattering the party while the remaining griffons closed. The final nevermore, however, didn't attack the people on the roof; it swept towards the gun. Now that it was closer, Weiss could see that a seer was clinging to its neck, tentacles wormed into the giant bird's ears.

"Raven and I have the diver!" Taiyang shouted. "Qrow, stay up here with the kids!" Without waiting for a reply he jumped from the roof, followed closely by Raven, and landed on the diving bird.

"Kids?" Weiss demanded, feeling very grumpy. Sure, she wasn't as old as the members of Team STRQ, but that didn't mean she was a child. Okay, she wasn't as capable as they were, either. Still...kids?

"Stress of the moment," Qrow drawled, in the infuriatingly calm manner, even while leaping at a griffon and taking its front legs off with a powerful slash.

"Hey, when you're as old as they are, everyone under thirty is probably a kid," Sun chimed in. Blake chuckled a little, but it didn't keep her from using her semblance to distract another griffon. When it attacked her shadow, Sun jumped on its back, held onto its neck with his tail, and started to pound on the creature's skull with his gun-chucks. Weiss couldn't help but snicker at the comment, even though the situation was dangerous.

"Only my nieces get to call me an old man!" Qrow adroitly sidestepped another griffon's lunge, still managing to glare at the monkey faunus. "And even they don't get to."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Weiss protested. Even with the dialog, she slowed the creature he had just avoided with a dark glyph and slashed at its head. The thick skull turned her blow and the creature responded with a claw swipe. She dodged the strike, then pinned the paw to the roof with her rapier.

"It means I'll tolerate it...barely...from my nieces," he growled at her. The...perhaps aging...huntsman spun twice, building up his momentum and chopping through the torso of the creature she had pinned. "There's gonna be a reckoning from anyone else who hints that I'm past my prime."

"As long as it gets done before your nap time!" Weiss shot back. She had a moment to savor his shocked expression before she yanked her rapier out of the roof and executed a couple of backwards handsprings to close on the griffon that Qrow had previously maimed. Strangely enough, he looked like he approved of the quip.

The crippled griffon lunged at her but it was a clumsy move, hampered by its missing forelegs. She sprang up above the beak and landed on the back of the creatures neck. When it tried to rear its head upwards to keep track of her, she grabbed the upper beak, pulled back to hold its mouth open, and fired a gout of flame from Myrtenaster down its gullet. Not knowing if that would be enough to finish the creature, she formed a dark glyph for traction, pirouetted twice to build some speed, and stabbed the narrow blade into one of its eyes.

With the griffon dissolving, she looked around. The first nevermore was circling for another run at them, although Qrow was already firing on it. Sun had a firm grip on the last griffon and was pulling back on its head, struggling to give Blake an open shot at its throat. Down on ground level, the second nevermore, the one with the attached seer, had lost one of its wings at the wing claw. Taiyang swatted its beak to one side, grabbed the other wing and extended it, allowing Raven to chop through the joint at the claw, further crippling it. Weiss was satisfied with the situation until another call came over the channel.

"They knocked out gun number one!" Captain Tabanca's voice shouted over the scrolls. "And the goliaths are breaking through!"

Predictably, Lieutenant Topcu and the sergeant with him rushed out of the stairwell and towards the gun controls. On the ground, the crew ducked around the furious melee between the nevermore, Tai and Raven to man the weapon.

"Direct fire!" The officer shouted over his scroll. "Confirm that all friendlies are clear of the breach area!"

"All friendly forces are clear of the impact area!" The colonel's voice shouted back. "Take the shot!"

Before the lieutenant could adjust the gun's aim to where the wall was starting to crumble, the circling nevermore unleashed more quills. Qrow was suddenly between the grimm and the officer, twirling his blade and blocking the attacks. As it pulled up again, Sun made an incredibly powerful jump and landed on the creature's back. Moments later, two of his spectral clones appeared and worked with him to turn the creature's head. The young man succeeded; the giant bird turned away from the rooftop.

"That idiot's going to get himself killed!" Blake snarled.

"Ice princess, give me a path!" Qrow demanded.

Understanding, Weiss formed a series of white glyphs into the air, to a point in the nevermore's path.

"Stay with the gun, no matter what!" Qrow growled at Weiss and Blake. Then, he was off, running up the glyphs and expanding his weapon into the scythe form.

"Fire!" Lieutenant Topcu yelled into his scroll.

Weiss' attention went immediately to the wall, where stone had crumbled away to reveal a goliath's head, pounding on the wall with its tusks. The lieutenant's aim was true, Weiss was looking directly at the goliath when the creature just exploded. There was a moment's pause, then lesser grimm swarmed through the breach and into a hail of dust rounds.

"The enemy commander is leaving!" A voice announced. "She's shielding the last goliath, but it's leaving!"

"C'mon!" Weiss yelled at Blake. "The soldiers are going to need help with the smaller grimm!"

"No!" Blake seized her shoulder, roughly. "We stay with the gun!"

"But Cinder's leaving," Weiss protested.

"How long will that last?" Blake asked her. "If she turns around, this cannon is the only thing that can take out the last goliath. What if some flying grimm that destroyed the other cannon survived? If we leave, this cannon is vulnerable and the city's in trouble. We guard it!"

Weiss wanted to argue but the logic of the situation exerted itself on her. She remembered a night, which seemed in a different lifetime, when she declared to her teammates that if they were going to be huntresses, they had to put their missions first and themselves second. Back then, she didn't realize that it might mean turning down the opportunity to fight.

Instead, she listened over the command channel as the defenders halted the grimm incursion just inside the city wall. She then listened as they mustered the firepower...and sustained the losses...needed to drive Cinder away. She watched as the final goliath, on which Cinder was riding, stalked away from the city. While the huge grimm appeared to move slowly, its gigantic strides meant that it covered a great deal of ground, so it was actually clearing the area very quickly. As soon as the goliath exited the city's shadow, Lieutenant Topcu opened fire, but Cinder was able to block his shots until her ride vanished into the foothills once again. The other defenders were too busy with other grimm to interfere.

However, shortly after Cinder vanished, it became clear that she had used the last of the grimm to cover her retreat. The oncoming swarm thinned, helped by the fragmentation rounds that Lieutenant Topcu fired into their midst, then trickled out. Those creatures in the shadow of the city walls, where the siege cannon could not fire, had no reinforcements and were eventually eliminated by the defenders. By late afternoon, the situation was stabilized to the point that Colonel Arvaken ordered the last siege cannon to relocate, implemented a rotation system to rest the troops and released the last of the hunters to join in the mopping up effort.

By the time Weiss and Blake, now teamed with Taiyang and Raven, reached the wall, the fighting was almost over. While there were several tiny grimm; creatures that looked like rats, that fled from the approaching hunters, it was the larger grimm that required attention.

"Older grimm," Qrow told the rest of the party. The older huntsman was singed a bit, but he and Sun looked ready to go. "I'm sure Dr. Oobleck told you that as grimm get older, they learn. Well, we've got some smart ones to deal with; ones that know to hide in the rubble or in the foliage and get the jump on people. This is hunter work."

Colonel Arvaken seemed to agree...to a certain extent. Over the scrolls, he ordered a company of soldiers to support each hunters team as it searched the immediate area. While it wasn't the most dangerous task Weiss had ever faced, it was time-consuming and tiring...and she was already exhausted. By the time the colonel declared the immediate area secure, she could barely put one foot in front of the other. Blake and Sun weren't in much better shape. How the older hunters could still be functional was beyond the heiress.

"What happened to the two of you?" She asked Sun, as they all made there way through the breach and back into the city.

"We managed to kill the nevermore before it left the city," the faunus told her. "But when it died, it dropped us on the wall, right in the middle of the attack. Qrow and I were able to disperse most of Cinder's fire, or at least enough that soldiers were able to send enough rounds her way to make her nervous. When she found herself down to one goliath, she high-tailed it out of here."

Weiss giggled a little when he emphasized the term 'high-tailed' by lifting his tail up high.

"Qrow took some hits," he continued, then shook his head. "I guess we have a lot of learning to do. The older generation just keeps going and going. I though us younger generation was supposed to have all the energy."

Weiss could only nod, wearily. She couldn't even muster much emotion when Ghira and Kali, at the head of the faunus company, showed up. She smiled for her friend, as Blake enjoyed a happy reunion with her parents. Then, she was interrupted by her scroll ringing. Seeing that it was a call from Winter, she quickly found some energy.

"Winter!" She blurted. "Are you well?"

"The medical staff here is most professional," Winter answered her. "While still wounded, I will make a complete recovery...in time. However, another matter has come up. I called as soon as I learned that the area was secure. Please, come directly to my hospital room. Do not discuss this with anyone and do not watch any news broadcasts."

"What is it?"

"This is something that must be discussed face to face!" Winter insisted. "Please, something vital is at stake."

"Winter wants me to go speak to her, now." Weiss told her companions.

"Go," Taiyang told her. "We've been released from duty. Our job now is to rest up. If your sister would rather have you run around the city than recover from this, it's between you and her."

Weiss offered the man a harsh glare, but didn't hesitate. The hospital wasn't very close to the battle site, but there was a steady stream of ambulances evacuating wounded, so she was able to catch a ride. The slow pace didn't do her nerves any good; what could be so vital that her sister needed to speak to her so soon? After learning which room Winter was currently occupying, Weiss consciously sought to not run through the corridors to reach her.

While the sisters had only spent limited time with each other in the last couple of years, Weiss could still read the older Schnee's expressions...at least to a limited extend. Upon reaching the hospital room, Weiss noted that Winter was sitting up in her bed, one shoulder heavily bandaged. With her good arm, she was holding her scroll to her face. The clench of her jaw and the slight narrowing of her eyes told Weiss that Winter was furious about what she was seeing. However, Winter's concentration wasn't so complete that she missed the movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly set down the scroll and faced her younger sister.

"Weiss," she nodded. "Come in and close the door behind you. First of all, are you injured?"

"Minor bruising and major exhaustion," Weiss told her, complying with her request.

"The life of a huntress requires extreme endurance," Winter informed her. "But please, be seated." Winter gestured to a point next to her bed. Taking the hint, Weiss slid a chair to the indicated point and sat down.

"This is going to be very unpleasant," Winter told Weiss, holding up her scroll. "I have recorded a news feed from Atlas. Apparently, a news organization forwarded some footage of you combating the goliaths during the last attack upon this city and transmitted it to Atlas."

Winter manipulated her scroll controls to project the image in the air. Soon, the sisters were watching a reporter's view as Weiss landed on top of the goliath, stabbed her rapier into the beasts head, Ron drove the weapon in deep, then Weiss incinerated it from the inside. The voice-over gushed on about how the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company and her companion, one Ron Stopper, had stopped the beast and helped to save Kuchinashi.

"I do not understand how such a report is a reason for alarm," Weiss confessed.

"It isn't," Winter told her, now tapping at the controls again. "However, someone used this as a lever. Here is another news feed from Atlas."

This time, the image showed a news studio, where a reporter was interviewing Whitley.

"While my dear sister's efforts were brave, noble, and saved countless lives, I cannot help but fear that she is being manipulated," the boy told the reporter, in a tone so reasonable that it made Weiss' teeth itch. "I would like to validate my concerns with some footage that most of Atlas hasn't seen; of what occurred shortly before my sister's valiant slaying of the beast."

On the image, another image appeared. This one showed Weiss, trapped in the ruble and struggling to free herself with Rufus' help. It showed Ron, surrounded by the blue nimbus, holding off the goliath's trunk and foot, then pushing the creature back.

"I must beg your patience," Whitley continued, the camera now on him again. "It took me a great deal of time to realize the dark secret behind these heroic images. The fact that my dear sister, whom I love more than life itself, is being manipulated, made if very difficult for me to view this evidence with any sort of objectivity. Her...her generosity and her valor are being used, her very heart-strings are being pulled by those who wish to use our family's wealth and influence for their own secretive purposes."

"Who do you think is manipulating your sister?" The reporter asked him.

"Why don't I present the evidence, first?" He asked.

"What is he up to?" Weiss demanded.

"Just watch," Winter growled.

"First, I'd like to ask just who this young man, Ron, is," Whitley told the camera. "Shortly after the fall of Beacon, my father held a fundraiser to assist the suffering residents of Vale. During this fundraiser, my sister had a bit of an emotional breakdown that resulted in innocents being attacked."

"She attacked civilians?" The reporter asked, although Weiss suspected that his shock was faked.

"Indirectly," Whitley corrected him. "You see, both of my sisters have the ability to summon a replica of foes they have defeated in the past. Weiss had defeated a boarbatusk at some point before this event and inadvertently created a summoning. She was highly upset over the opinions some of the citizens had about the Kingdom of Vale and while she would never harm a civilian, her summoning acted on her behalf. Fortunately, or perhaps by intent, General Ironwood was present, armed, and eliminated the summoning before any harm could be done."

"So why do you bring this up?" Weiss noted that the reporter's curiosity seemed to be coached.

"I needed to point out that my dear sister is very passionate about her beliefs and that those passions can sometimes overwhelm the good sense and logic that usually dictate her actions," Whitley answered. "This event was well documented."

"True," the reporter nodded. "Please go on."

"As is only to be expected, my father was both shocked and disappointed by what had happened. He grounded my sister, so that she could not inadvertently endanger anyone until such time that she gained control over this ability, and the emotions that triggered it."

"That's not what happened!" Weiss protested.

"Of course not!" Winter snapped. "But be silent and learn the web of lies our brother is weaving!"

"I guess one can only expect that she did not take confinement well, even if it was for the public good," Whitley continued. "Shortly after this incident, she vanished. One day, we woke up and she was gone. Again, this is well documented, as my father quickly filed a missing person report and posted a generous reward for anyone who could provide information that would result in her recovery, before she could harm herself or anyone else."

Weiss ground her teeth, but held her tongue.

"I have since learned that she took shelter at Atlas Academy, under the protection of Headmaster Ironwood," Whitley held up his scroll. "And I have the proof of this for anyone who wishes to question my claims. However, that is not important at this time. I suppose that the headmaster thought that he was sheltering my sister; providing her with safety and instructions to control her summoning ability. However, he also made use of her. I have also learned that at some point, she traveled to Vale and once there, met this young man, Mr. Steppable."

"This takes me back to my original question," Whitley told his audience. "I have been able to find no records, whatsoever, of this young man before my sister returned to Atlas with him. Upon arrival in Atlas, the two of them took up residence at Atlas Academy, under Headmaster Ironwood's personal supervision. An additional piece of information, which will be of use later, is the fact that my sister turned eighteen while she was in Vale."

"So we have a young man, who seems to have never existed, suddenly appearing when your sister fled her home." The reporter pointed out.

"Yes, and this young man has some very interesting talents," Whitley added. "However, back to my tale. My dear sister was now a legal adult so our father, despite his understandable worry, couldn't order her back home. However, Weiss did not inform our family that she had returned. Indeed, she hadn't even let us know that she had left Atlas in the first place. Instead of alleviating the near panic that was ongoing in the family home, she remained at Atlas Academy, in secret. From here, she contacted attorneys and doctors sympathetic, or perhaps exploitative, to her situation. She had previously charmed our family servant, and he allowed her, and these hired professional, access to our mother. As I'm sure the viewers can understand, our mother was so happy to see that her daughter was safe, that she was willing to go to almost any extreme to make sure that she didn't vanish again."

Whitley gave the camera a stern look when he announced, "this was when my mother displaced my father as the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, replaced him with Weiss, and exiled him from the family home."

There was a dramatic pause, as Whitley and the reporter allowed the audience to digest the drastic action.

"As one could expect, there were some major changes to the company's business practices," the boy continued. "Changes that threatened the company's very stability. During this upheaval, Weiss brought Mr. Steppable to live in our home. For the next several weeks, Headmaster Ironwood was a frequent guest and both Weiss and this young man visited Atlas Academy almost every day. During this time, Weiss challenged the embargo that the council had enacted; not just once, but twice. In the end, she even threatened to establish dust production and distribution outside of Solitas. I'm certain that the council was making the best of a bad situation by rescinding the embargo."

"Of course, I protested these changes," Whitley declared, one hand on his chest. "But I am still a minor. My mother, at Weiss' urging, sent me away from my home and on a series of apprenticeships, where I could neither protest nor observe what was happening to my family. However, I observed enough before I left."

Now, the image showed a bird's eye view of her and Ron, dancing on the lawn in the moonlight.

"I recorded this footage of my sister and her companion when they thought that they were not being observed," Whitley declared. "As you can see, they are clearly something more than acquaintances or even friends."

Now, Whitley's face came back up on the projector. "And that is why I ask who this young man is," the boy stated. "We have seen something similar happen before, a young person with surprising abilities just appears out of nowhere, associated with Atlas Academy, just before world-changing events take place."

Whitley's face faded away, replaced by an image of Penny, easily defeating Team CRDL during the doubles match of the Vytal Tournament. Then, the projection showed her being torn apart, revealing her robotic nature, during her match against Pyrrha.

"Can nobody else see the similarities?" He asked the audience. "I can attest that Mr. Steppable is socially inept, as if he doesn't really belong in our society. Those who interacted with Penny Polindena reported that she was friendly, helpful, yet somehow naive and easily confused, much like Mr. Steppable. However, the similarity doesn't end there."

"Look what happened before and after this incident," Whitley continued. "Before this happened, our military and academy, which are one and the same, filled the city of vale with robots and androids, ostensibly to provide security for those attending the festival. After this incident, those same robots turned on the citizens of Vale. As a result, relations between the four kingdoms are more tense than at any time since the great war."

"Now, look at what is happening at this time," he gave the camera his best, beseeching look. "My dearest sister, emotionally compromised, finds shelter at Atlas Academy. She then travels farther away from home, where she meets a young man who appeared out of nowhere. Upon her return, she gains control of the most powerful company on the face of Remnant. Both this young man and Atlas Academy continue to exert considerable influence upon her while she makes drastic and sweeping changes to the company. Sometime after this, General Ironwood leads the majority of our mobile forces on what he claims to be a powerful strike against some shadowy, great enemy that none of us has ever heard about. These forces, and the general himself, have vanished."

"Are the general and these forces truly gone?" Whitley asked the camera. "Or has the general taken them to do something that the citizens of Atlas wouldn't approve of? Has Mistral truly come under attack by the White Fang, grimm and some mysterious enemy, or is this a power grab by the Atlesian Military, seeking to crush another kingdom after having crippled Vale and gaining influence over the largest company on the planet? Are we, the citizens of Atlas, unknowingly supporting a military that has become drunk on its own power?"

"I am but a boy," he concluded. "And my ability to influence events is very limited. Perhaps this is a good thing, as I do not have the experience to deal with such world-shaking situations. Instead, I can only beg the good citizens of Atlas to demand answers, to force our council to tell us exactly what is taking place in Mistral. I also implore the board of directors of the Schnee Dust Company to pass a vote of no confidence against my own, dear sister and re-instate my father as the CEO, until such time that we learn the details of just who Mr. Steppable is, and what unhealthy influence he's exerting upon this confused, lonely girl."

Weiss took some comfort in the fact that her mouth didn't hang open in shock. While her expression undoubtedly reflected the anger and betrayal she felt, her mouth remained properly closed. There was silence in the hospital room for several minutes.

"I'd call him a rat," she finally managed to grate out. "But I've met a few and find them much better company than he is."

"Agreed," Winter told her. "I hope that you can see the necessity of keeping him from putting father back in charge of the company."

"Right now, that's the least of my worries," Weiss snarled.

"Then open your eyes!" Winter snapped at her. "We would have never been able to defend Kuchinashi without the dust provided by our family company! We would have never been able to defend Kuchinashi if you hadn't forced the council's hand and gained permission to ship it here! Like it or not, if the kingdoms are going to survive, the Schnee Dust Company must remain in honorable hands; yours!"

"But mother..." Weiss began to protest.

"Is not up to a long, drawn out struggle for control," Winter interrupted. "And you know it! THIS is your mission, to maintain control, keep the dust flowing and prove that the Atlas Military isn't a rogue organization out for world conquest!"

"But...I agree," Weiss' shoulder's slumped, as if a heavy weight had just fallen upon them.

"At first light tomorrow, a train will leave Kuchinashi for Mistral City," Winter told her younger sister. "You and Mr. Stoppable will be on that train, as will I. The day after tomorrow, your own airship will take General Ironwood back to Atlas. You and Mr. Stoppable will be on that airship. While you won't be traveling towards physical danger, I suspect that the siege you just endured will seem easy in comparison."

* * *

A grimm doesn't have to be large to be dangerous.

Yet, the soldiers of Kuchinashi, on guard overnight at the recently re-damaged section of the wall, could perhaps be forgiven for being more concerned about beowolves or ursa attacking than the small skittering sounds in the ruble beneath their feet. Instead of investigating the small sounds, they remained on guard, watching for direct threats to their battered city. With their attention predisposed towards attackers, they didn't notice the small, rat-like grimm slip into the rubble.

Contrary to the beliefs of most humans and faunus, not all grimm are bred to be automatically aggressive towards humans. Thus this diminutive creature didn't seek to use claws and teeth on the unsuspecting guardians. Instead, it followed both its innate sense of souls, as well as its curiosity, both of which were traits that Salem had deliberately built into its kind. Deep in the rubble pile, in a place where only small creatures could venture, it found a soul that wasn't attached to a moving body. It didn't have the intelligence to wonder why a soul would be located inside a piece of red-glowing rock. It could only follow the impulses that it had been built into it.

With great effort, or at least great effort for a rat-sized creature, it managed to pull the interesting stone free of the jumble of large, building stones. Once free, it scampered off into the night, beneath either the notice or the concern of the soldiers standing their vigil. Safely away from the city walls, it passed the rock to a small nevermore, which was roughly the size of an eagle.

The nevermore also didn't have the intelligence to wonder about the mystery of a soul in a stone. Instead, it could only follow its own impulses. Seizing the stone in its talons, it struggled into the night sky and was soon flying away to the southeast.

Towards Salem's citadel.

* * *

 _A/N: Again, fondest thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._


	40. Chapter 40

" _Ready? Go!_ "

The growl that Jaune released as he thrust his sword wasn't just meant to help him exhale with the strike, it was a growl against everything that had happened to him...against everything that had happened to _her._

" _Again._ "

His backhand slash hit empty air, but he pictured it aimed at Cinder, or Mercury, or even Ozpin...anyone who had put her up to taking on that horrid burden...that she was far to young to accept.

" _And again._ "

He spun and slashed with another growl, this time, the anger was aimed at himself. All he would have had to do was stop one arrow; to keep his attention where it was supposed to be instead of watching Ozpin fiddle with that damned machine. If he had stopped just one arrow, even if it had punched through his shield and killed him, he would have managed something. Then, Cinder wouldn't have gotten the full fall maiden powers, then it would have been Pyrrha and Ozpin against Cinder. But no, he had turned away from the one job he was supposed to do, stared like an idiot even though he didn't understand the technology, and let Cinder kill that poor girl.

" _Okay. Now, assuming you're not cheating, we can take a break._ "

The warmth and humor in the voice tore at him worse than ever before. It was a warmth that he had heard, just a couple of hours earlier, when Team RNJR had met with her parents. His breath heaving, Jaune barely heard her recorded voice commiserating with him, understanding that the hard work didn't seem to result in progress and complimenting him on his determination, instead, his mind went back to the meeting.

Her parents had both been hunters, and capable ones at that. Jaune had expected their home to be covered with trophies and mementos of past glories. Instead, it was a comfortable home, made to live in rather than show off. Her mother, who resembled Pyrrha so much that he had flinched, had ushered them inside while her father, a veritable bear of a man, had fetched tea and light snacks. Then, the two hunters had urged them to give them the details of their daughter's death.

It had been awkward at first; admitting his failures to these strangers. He had expected them to throw him out of the house when he told them that the fairy-tale of the four maidens was based in fact, and their daughter nearly became one of them. Instead, it appeared that experienced hunters had very open minds about what was and wasn't possible. After that, he expected them to hurl him out, or at least berate him for not keeping a diligent guard while her daughter was confined in the bizarre machine. Instead, they looked at him with sympathy and understanding through their tears. Finally, he told them about fleeing out of the tower with her, and how she shoved him into the locker and launched him to Vale.

" _Jaune, I...I..._ " a sigh. " _I just wanted to say that I'm happy to be part of your life..._ "

Her parents hadn't been content with hearing that. "Did she...say anything to you...before she sent you away?" Her mother had asked. He hadn't been able to lie, he told them about the kiss. Even his three teammates hadn't known about that. Again, he expected to be berated or thrown out. Instead, both parents had nodded, and a little joy seemed to show through their pain.

" _I'll always be here for you, Jaune._ "

"She wrote to us about you all," her father told them. "But mostly about you, Jaune. It was pretty clear that she was looking at you as something more than a friend and teammate. I'm glad that she found it in her to act on it...before the end."

"Halt!" Jaune had already gone through the routine a dozen times. He was exhausted, sweaty and didn't feel much like going through it again at the moment. Instead, he recalled the events at the Nikos' Household some more.

Ruby told them about running up the side of the tower and seeing the end. It was a tale that Jaune had heard over and over but now, seeing her parents' reaction, the pain and rage came back stronger than ever. Cinder's gloating over her helpless foe, then casually killing and disintegrating her, leaving nothing for her loved ones to mourn over. Nothing except the scraps of her weapons and her headpiece.

Of course, Jaune had offered them Crocea Mors, and then had offered to remove those pieces that had belonged to Pyrhha. Of course, they had declined, saying that they preferred to have these bits of memorabilia active in the world, defending a huntsman. After that, they spoke about their daughter.

In a way, this was the hardest for the team, but it was why they had stopped for the visit; to give Pyrrha's family a chance to come to terms with their grief. It turned out that Pyrrha was an only child, who had excelled at every skill that she put her mind to achieving. Within weeks of enrolling at Sanctum Academy, she was clearly the best at the school...not just her class. She won tournament after tournament...but became increasingly lonely. While she was a friendly person, she was so far beyond her peers that they treated her like a champion, someone to be admired and celebrated, not like a teen girl to be befriended. It was this sense of isolation that drove her to apply to Beacon Academy rather than Haven. She hoped for a fresh start.

"Then, the letters started to arrive from Beacon," Mr. Nikos smiled at his visitors. "She had a team and she was merging with them. Not only that, there was a team that housed right across the hall and her team did a lot with them, they were all friends. She was happy, she was actually excited about the Beacon Dance and the upcoming competition. In fact, she didn't even come home for the semester break.

"I slipped home for a couple of days," Jaune had admitted. "I didn't want to leave her alone, but Blake, Nora and Ren were all staying over the break, as well. She recorded a training video for me to keep in practice."

"That's so much like her," her mother told them. "Could we...see the video?"

He hadn't wanted to, but he couldn't refuse them. In the end, he admitted that he hadn't watched it, hadn't learned the lesson that he needed constant training, until after she was gone. Had he done so, he might have realized...

"Continue."

The recording reversed at high speed until she looked out of the device at him again.

" _Alright Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions; shield up, keep your grip tight, don't forget to keep your front foot..._ "

"Halt!" A new voice interrupted the tape. Angry, Jaune spun to see Mr. Nikos, with his teammates.

"Your friends asked me to help," the older man informed him. "They told me that you slipped away, every night that you could, to train...but they don't think you're just training, and neither do I."

Jaune didn't have a reply to this.

"Son, I lost my daughter," while the pain was evident in the big man's voice, it was clearly a pain that he had accepted; a loss that he knew would never be made good no matter how hard he tried. "She was my only daughter, so my wife and I are alone now. We're both only children, so there aren't any brothers or sisters to spend time with and no nieces and nephews to spoil. I thought I made it clear that I don't hold any of you to blame for her dying, so how dare you hold yourself to blame?"

"Because it's my fault!" Jaune told him. "If I would have just..."

"If this Cinder Fall person managed to beat the Beacon Headmaster, just what good do you think you would have done?" The big man snapped at him. "If you had been looking down the hall, do you think the first arrow would have been aimed at the spring maiden? Son, you weren't a full huntsman...you're still not. If that woman had seen you as an obstacle, she would have eliminated you before doing exactly what she did anyway."

"But..."

"Every huntsman has his regrets!" Mr. Nikos wouldn't let the younger man protest. "Every huntsman can look back at his life and wish that he did something differently, but beating yourself up about it doesn't accomplish anything. You were kids that found themselves facing something too big for you to handle. You weren't diligent at your duty, but Pyrrha didn't pay the price for that, she paid the price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

This time, Jaune remained silent.

"Let me give you another lesson about the huntsman's life," the older man continued. "A lesson for all of you. Loss is as much a part of being a hunter as weapons, combat, pain and regret. I loved my daughter more than any of you ever will. She was my little girl; I cut her cord, held her hands when she took her first steps and was the one she ran to when she saw her first big spider. I miss my daughter more than you will ever understand...until you all have kids of your own, so you can believe me when I tell you this."

He took a deep breath, then continued, his voice gentle and intense at the same time. "Never love the dead more than you love the living. Remember her, cherish her memory, but don't let that memory tear you apart and don't let that memory blind you to the people who want to share your life."

"I won't," Jaune managed to whisper.

"Well, that's exactly what you're doing!" Mr. Nikos growled back. "You were here in the training room, all alone with a scroll, while three close friends were hoping you'd come to them!"

"I...didn't want to be a bother," Jaune murmured.

"While friendships can sometimes be trying, the benefits always more than make up for it." Ren pointed out.

"What he said," the older huntsman added. "There will be plenty of time to be alone when you're in your grave, spend your time with friends and live!"

"I'm going to leave you to it," the older man told the team. "But there's something I want from you, in memory of my daughter."

"Anything," Jaune assured him.

"I want the four of you to share your lives," he told them, obviously choking down a sob. "We won't get to see our daughter start her career, take on missions, enjoy triumphs and agonize over failures. We won't see her form new teams, find a young man and start a family. Instead, I want you to share this with us; drop us letters and texts telling us about your missions and your lives. Tell us about your wins and losses, tell us about the long trips you take and the new places you see. Ask our advice about things. My wife and I have a great deal of experience and since we can't use that to help our daughter, let us use it to help you."

"We would be most honored," Ren told the older man.

"Then I'll let the four of you be for tonight," he fixed Jaune with a hard look. "Please, spend it as a group."

Team RNJR could only stand and watch as the older man gave Jaune a pat on the shoulder, then turned and left. For a few moments, there was only silence. Finally...

"You know, you plant your feet and just leave them," Nora told Jaune. "And you don't keep moving. Not only that, you stop and line up for each strike. This means you're a sitting target and you give your opponents plenty of time to get ready for the next attack. Let's work on that first."

"Nora, I...would kind of like to be alone right now."

"Not tonight," Ren told him. "We are all hurting, so we should spend our time together, supporting each other."

"How did he even know to come here?" Jaune asked.

"I sort of talked to them," Ruby admitted. When the rest of the team stared at her, she continued, "after we finished talking to them, I slipped back and told them that Jaune was practicing to the recording...almost every night."

Her companions' expressions grew harder.

"I didn't now what to do!" Ruby yelled at them. "Jaune, I knew you were hurting but I didn't know how to fix it! If I was hurt and you didn't know what to do, wouldn't you go get help to make me better?"

"Of course," Ren assured her, although his eyes were narrowed just a touch. "However, we would have preferred you bringing this to us first. While we don't have the life experience that Mr. Nikos has, perhaps we could have intervened a great deal earlier."

"Guys, it's not like I'm some helpless idiot," Jaune protested. "I'm fine, I...just miss her."

"Missing her is fine," Nora told him. "But _you're_ not fine and we know it now." She picked up his scroll and handed it to him. "It's okay to be sad, but being alone and sad isn't something that's right. You're one of the good guys; too many people count on you for you to let this eat you up like this."

"But nobody counts on me," Jaune countered. "I'm the weakest, the one that can barely hold my own."

"The one that has improved the most," Ruby told him. "The one who's closed the gap, who is determined to be what he wants to be. Everyone around you at Beacon had either been pushed into this life or had chosen it years before. We've all had training that you haven't, but you didn't let it stop you."

"Besides, you usually keep a clear head under fire," Ren told him. "And in a group of hunters, having someone keeping his wits about him is more valuable than another fighter."

"You're part of the team," Nora told him. "And teammates work together and help each other. You're not pulling us down; you're helping us in your own way."

"And now you need help, and not just with the fighting," Ruby concluded. "So don't push us away."

"It's just...she never said and I was too blind..." suddenly, tears started flowing from his eyes, heavier than they had since that horrible night that Cinder had killed Pyrhha.

For the other three members of Team RNJR, there was a certain satisfaction. He was hurting, but he was finally letting it out with them present. While they all missed her, they understood the deeper loss that he felt, the responsibility that he wouldn't let go. Now, they would be able to face this as a team and move forward again.

* * *

The elderly man walked gracefully into the small chamber, his footsteps making no sounds despite the fact he was wearing wooden-soled slippers. This was one of the more secluded rooms in this, a secret school on a mountaintop. Only he and the chamber's dedicated caretaker ever visited this place; the caretaker daily and he less frequently. However, a certain unease in his mind had prompted him to make this visit while most of those under his care and tutelage slumbered. The floor's dark wood gleamed in the dim light, with not a speck of dust upon it. As was the tradition of centuries, the caretaker took meticulous care of the place; this was one of the few instances when the 'honor' of a duty was actually an honor.

Within the room was a plain, but highly polished rack and on the rack rested the reason for this room to exist. Polished metal gleamed in the dim light; not only reflecting what little starlight came through the door but supplying it's own illumination. While the old man was not imbued with the same power that emanated from the ancient weapon, he was receptive to that power's effects and needs. Here, close to the blade and away from the chi of other people, he could sense the ebb and flow of the power as clearly as possible. He took and released a deep breath, closed his eyes and opened his mind.

At first a frown, which was concealed by his mustache, took residence on his face but it soon faded to an expression of neutrality as he did what he always did; conceded his will to a necessity much greater than his own. After all, at his age he had known for some time that this day wouldn't be all that long in coming. Preparations had already been made and he was ready for the burden of responsibility to shift to another. Bowing to the sword, he backed out of the room and closed the doors behind him.

Rather than walking to the great hall or even his study, he made his way to the gardens, while calling for one of his most capable students to attend him. He would have to impart a few, final instructions before taking on this task and then, he would be finished. He saw no need for excessive formality for the act. He would be able to accomplish this task alone, in his comfortable clothing and in the garden just as effectively as if he were surrounded by his most capable students, wearing his best finery and in the shrine. It was past time and, to be honest, he saw no reason to complicate this act with overt expressions of sadness.

Besides, the gardens were lovely in the morning and would provide pleasant sights and sounds for his last day.

* * *

"I'm not saying that it's a _**bad**_ idea, Kimmie; I'm saying that you need to think through it before acting on it."

James Possible wasn't in doctor mode at the moment, he was in father mode and was finding it challenging to guide his car up the steep mountain trail leading to the lair in which he had helped build Drew's inter-dimensional access device while trying to apply logic to an illogical situation.

"I've thought about it," Kim, sitting in the passenger seat, crossed her arms and tried to dial up her best 'it's not open for discussion' expression. James, however, wasn't about to back down.

"Okay, let's rephrase that," James told her. "You haven't thought about it enough."

"Why?" She demanded. "Because I haven't come to a decision that you want me to?"

"Not at all," James pointed out. "You've made several decisions that I haven't agreed with, and I still supported you. I didn't approve of you going overseas for college, but I supported your decision once you proved that you had thought it through. You learned that Ronald can't return to Earth less than 36 hours ago. 36 hours isn't enough time to contemplate a decision of this magnitude, especially if you spent at least eight hours of that time sleeping." He paused for a moment. "You _**did**_ spend some time sleeping, didn't you?"

"Not eight hours," she grumbled.

"There!" James' voice had a bit of triumph in it. "You're exhausted and you just went through a mission that scorched your emotions harder than re-entry. All I'm asking you is to rest up, find your center of gravity, then take all factors into account before you make a decision."

"That's what I realized," Kim countered. "I already had made up my mind, before finding out that Ron can't come back. In fact, I had made up my mind before he got pulled away."

"I didn't quite catch that one," James admitted.

"I realized that I didn't like to be away from him any more than he liked to be away from me," she explained. "At least not for months at a time. When I agreed to the mission to investigate Dementor...I had already made up my mind that something needed to change. Either he was going to have to relocate to England or I was going to have to move back to Colorado. Maybe we were both going to have to relocate, but I wanted us to be together. Nothing's changed, I still want that and since he can't come back to Earth, I'm going to have to go to Remnant."

Kim didn't miss the ashen look on her father's face.

"Oh daddy, I know that you don't want to lose me!" She told him. "Do you think that I want to leave you, mom, or even the tweebs? Do you think that I want to leave my friends and the world that I worked so hard to protect?"

"No," James answered. "And we don't want to lose you! Have you thought about what you leaving will do to all of us? Look at what you've managed here!" They had just pulled up to the lair's cargo door. "Last year, inter-dimensional travel was only possible with the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer. Because of you, we managed to create an alternative. Are you going to take that away from the world?"

"I didn't really do anything," Kim admitted. "In fact, I can only understand about one-tenth of the science going on in there."

"But it was your drive that brought together the people who can do it," James insisted, now exiting his car. "We would have never combined our talents without your unique blend of drive, kindness and in some cases, intimidation."

"I did it to get Ron back," Kim reminded him. "Some of the people involved in this were doing it for Ron, not for me."

"But you pointed that out. You showed us all that we could accomplish something to pay the two of you back, as well as work to our own benefit."

"And I want a benefit as well, and that benefit is a life with Ron," Kim took a deep breath. "Dad, let's forget for a moment that Ron is on a different world. If he were still here, popped the question to me and I said yes, would you have given us your blessing?"

"Yes," James answered, allowing Drew's security system to scan his eye and open the door. "But I would have insisted that the two of you finish your education before actually tying the knot."

"Okay, but you would have been fine with me leaving the nest?" Kim now let the security system scan hers and waited for a green light to flash, informing her that Drakken's system wouldn't do something...odd...when she passed into the facility.

"I knew that you would, some day," James' voice was resigned. "Just as I know that the boys will leave some day. I just thought that I'd be able to still enjoy the three of you. You know, visits on holidays and vacations, seeing grandchildren, talking on the phone..."

"I was looking forward to the same thing," Kim assured him. "It's just..."

"I'm not going to force a decision on you," James told her. "But I'm going to say this; it took us months of hard work to build Drew's contraption the last time, so it's going to take us at least a couple of months to rebuild it. I want you to use that time to think this through, very carefully. I want you to not remember Ronald with your rose-colored lenses, I want you to remember all of the times that he was aggravating and irritating, as well as the times he was supportive and self-sacrificing. I want you to think of your friends and your career. Then, when the time comes to make this choice, you'll be ready to make a rational one."

"Okay, that's reasonable," Kim nodded, the gave him a quick hug. "Thanks, daddy."

An inner door opened, allowing the father and daughter to stare upon what appeared to be pandemonium. Both robots and henchmen were everywhere, hauling debris. Sparks flew from a dozen points on the walls, where welders worked at ventilation shafts while burly men on a scaffold were installing re-bar in the hole that now connected the main chamber and the control room. As they continued to watch, there appeared to be some order to the chaos, but Kim couldn't quite put her finger on the organization.

"Ah...ah...the Possibles!" Drakken, who was typing furiously on a smart phone, looked up from midst of the bedlam.

"Drakken!" Kim gasped. "You're only now getting around to clearing up the mess? It's been days!"

"I only got permission to start a few hours ago!" He protested, edging through the chaos and approaching the two. "First, the NSA declared this site a national security hazard. As soon as they declared it clear, the Colorado State Police declared it a crime scene. I'm just starting to tabulate the damage; determine what can be repaired and what has to be replaced, and that's only the start of my problems!"

The blue man suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Just what additional problems are you talking about," Kim demanded, having long ago learned how he handled blurting information that he didn't want anyone else to know.

"Er...perhaps we could go up to the lounge and be comfortable while we discuss this." Drew Lipsky was clearly nervous.

"It's a very long walk up the stairs," James pointed out. "The elevator was destroyed."

"I can fly us up in a hovercar," Drakken offered. "I'm going to be having some additional guests today and I think...that things could be less than pleasant."

"What guests?" Kim asked him.

"Not until I have a glass of warm coco-moo in my hand," Drew insisted. "This is going to be a trying conversation."

Kim and her father shared a nervous glance, but they followed the blue man back through the main chamber, out of the mountain and to where he had parked his vehicle. Kim kept a close eye on the man and while he seemed nervous, he didn't seem to be leading them towards an ambush of any sort. While Drakken seemed perfectly content to go straight after the one-time blanket pardon he and Shego had received for saving the world from the Lowardians, he wasn't exactly the most stable of people. She trusted him to explore ground-breaking science with a childish glee, but she didn't trust him beyond that.

Her suspicions proved to be unfounded...at least for the moment. He flew them to the top of the mountain where they were soon in the lounge...lounging. While Kim and her father did the best they could to relax, Drakken continued to pace the area, fidgeting and occasionally glancing at Kim, only to quickly turn away when she looked in his direction. Finally, the redhead had had enough.

"Out with it, Doc!" She snarled at him. "You've been looking at me like I'm about to grow fangs and jump on you! What's got you so worked up."

"I...ehh...worked up? No! I'm just...antsy to get back to work on the project. Heh, heh."

"Drakken!" Kim took a deep breath. "Just say what has you jumpy!."

"Indeed, Mr. Lipsky," a new voice declared. All three spun to see the unsmiling Dr. Director, accompanied by Hirotaka, walking into the lounge. "There seems to be a great deal that needs to be discussed here."

"Err...Dr. Director...w-welcome to my current abode," the former villain stammered. "P-please make yourself at home."

"I will," the stern woman claimed a comfortable chair, without taking her eyes from the nervous blue man. "I have brought along Mr. Hirotaka. He represents a certain...influential entity that has an interest in your little endeavor. Now, please continue as if I wasn't here. I'm very interested on learning more about the dynamic that could create a device capable of accessing other dimensions."

"That dynamic is none of your business!" Drakken snapped at her, and Kim swore she could see iron flowing into his backbone. "This is a private venture; located on private property and funded outside of any government. What happens here is our business, not yours!"

"But when that endeavor brings in contraband from outside of the U.S., it becomes a governmental concern," Director countered. "When it makes use of an international criminal and prompts a raid on his lair, on the far side of the Atlantic, it becomes a Global Justice concern."

"So, you'll let us do your dirty work, then demand to be in on the decisions?" Drakken growled right back.

"Enough posturing," Director answered, in a much more reasonable tone of voice. "I have enough evidence to have several U.S. national agencies shut down your operation. Of course, you'll be able to prevent them from gaining access to your files, but it will be years before you can continue your operation...assuming you can...or we get access to the files...assuming we do. Why don't you just let me listen in on your conversation and give me a little input. It will probably make things a lot simpler for everyone."

"And myself, as well."

Everyone looked to the door again, where Senor Senior Senior, and his son, now stood.

"I have just heard of horrible damage being inflicted upon this venture," the old man announced. "As a major investor, and as one who represents other major investors, I am more than interested, and justified, in hearing of any developments."

While Drakken maintained his stubborn, grim expression, he looked to Kim. Shocked by this acknowledgment that she was running things, she offered him a quick nod.

"Very well," Drakken announced. "Gentlemen, why don't you take a seat. Before we discuss the damage inflicted upon my invention, I have to report on some readings we have just analyzed from our successful attempt to access another reality." Here, he gave Kim another, nervous glance. "While we successfully sent a probe to another reality, I just finished analyzing the sensor data from the trip. There...there's no way that a human can survive this trip."

"What?" Kim demanded. "Why not?"

"Even with all of the precautions we took, both the temperature and the vibrations inside the final sphere are too great for a human body to withstand."

"The probe apparently survived," Senior pointed out.

"A probe, specifically designed and built to survive such rigors, came through with only minor damage,' Dr. Drakken told him. "A human body...wouldn't have."

"But that was the first attempt!" Kim protested. "Surely you can adjust the mechanism, or even engineer a sustainment device for inside that final sphere!"

"Perhaps," Dr. Drakken conceded. "But it could take multiple attempts to confirm that any such effort is adequate. I have to re-build the program from the ground up and...well...you saw how much time and effort it took."

"But it can be done!" Kim insisted. "You've already done the impossible here! Why can't these efforts continue?"

"They can," Drakken assured her. "But you have to understand the limitat..."

"Actually, they can't," Dr. Director interrupted.

"Wha...?" Drakken was suddenly less sure of himself.

"The U.S. Government has determined that this endeavor is too dangerous," she told him, then turned to face Kim. "I have contacts within the NSA and managed to get them to let me break the news. In a couple of hours, the time it takes for the NSA to work with the FBI and local law enforcement when an issue is of the utmost importance comes up, this facility is going to be swarming with various agents."

The head of Global Justice paused to fix both Drakken and Kim, in turn, with stern looks.

"If they find you cleaning up the mess, powering down all potentially dangerous equipment and making no effort to resist or rebuild, it will go very easy on you. If they encounter resistance or defiance..." she took a deep breath. "Well, a great deal of the equipment is unlicensed and potentially dangerous, not to mention you accessed points outside of the nation without proper quarantine procedures."

"But why?" Kim demanded, jumping to her feet. "We didn't hurt anybody!"

"Seven NATO soldiers were injured during the raid on Kongsoya Island," Dr. Director informed the younger woman. "And your team, a very capable team, was almost overwhelmed. Now you want to open a portal to the world that produces these grimm. What if more come through?"

"We stop them, right here in this lair!" Kim told her.

"You were raided in this lair," Director countered. "What if those forces had sought to seize the invention rather than destroy it? What if they had opened a path to allow more grimm to come through?"

"WE didn't do that! In fact, what we're doing here could help the situation!"

"How?" Director's eye was piercing and intent.

"We can work with the people who live there!" Kim insisted. "They know how to fight grimm and will share their knowledge with us!"

"And how can you know this, Kim?"

Suddenly, Kim realized that she had said more than she should have. Still, there was no going back.

"Because Ron has come back twice," she said, meeting the older woman's eye with a defiant posture.

Dr. Director simply quirked her eyebrow.

"On this world, called Remnant, they have a thing called aura, the manifestation of your soul. Everyone who has this awakened gets a semblance...sort of a super-power. Well, his semblance is transporting to me whenever I'm in extreme danger. The only problem is, this aura injures him while he's on Earth and his semblance returns him to Remnant after a few minutes."

"And how can you know this?" Dr. Director clearly was in no mood for half-truths and evasions.

"Because when he appeared, in Dementor's lair on Kongsoya Island, he deliberately left this behind." Kim held up the scroll, then tossed it to Dr. Director. "It's called a scroll and it's what the people on Remnant use instead of smart phones."

"Why didn't you turn this over immediately when you saw me?" Dr. Director demanded, snatching the device out of the air.

"Because he had recorded messages for me, his parents, his sister, several of his friends and for Master Sensei of the Yamanouchi School." Kim maintained her defiant attitude. "If I had turned this over to you, it would have gone to one of your labs, or maybe to a U.S. Government agency. The people he recorded those messages for wouldn't have received them for weeks, months, or never at all. I made sure that everyone he intended the messages for received them before I turned this device over to you...or anyone else."

"Which means that we have had alien technology operating for over a day, with no monitoring," Betty Director growled at the redhead. "You and several others have had contact with with someone from an alien biosphere, without quarantine."

"Ron was perfectly healthy!" Kim protested. "Except for the developing contusions thing..."

"And how do you know that this isn't a communicable condition?" Betty demanded. "Are you going to develop the same problem? How about those that you have come in contact with?"

"It isn't a disease!"

"How can you know for sure?" Betty was relentless. "Even if the people on this other planet...Remnant...think it's a manifestation of the soul, what if it's really a microorganism that's causing this? Our entire animal kingdom has no natural defense!"

"I..."

"It has been several days since Stoppable's first visit," Drew pointed out. "And nobody has had any such problems."

"If it's a disease, how long does it take to show symptoms?" Betty snapped back. "Ron was on Remnant for several months before he appeared back on Earth."

"Oh..." Drew now looked abashed, and frightened.

"I'm calling an immediate quarantine," Betty started pushing buttons on her phone. "But in the meantime, we can hammer out some more details." Now, she looked at Kim again. "Five minutes ago, I was going to be apologetic about shutting down this project. Now, I see that I was too lenient. This group is not capable of taking the necessary precautions. This project is shut down, completely."

"Then I'll just take it to another site!" Kim countered her. "Quarantine doesn't last forever! When I get out, I'll just recreate everything somewhere beyond your control! You can either allow this to take place, here, where you can monitor it or you can try to figure out where I went!"

"That might not be possible, Miss Possible," Senior interrupted her tirade. "Myself and several other investors funded this venture in the expectation of future financial gains. Inter-dimensional trade on a scale needed to recoup our investments cannot be done when international law enforcement agencies are attempting to halt such commerce. Should law enforcement allow such an endeavor to commence again, I and my associates will be willing...even eager...to renew funding. However, so long as the international community seeks to prevents this, it is not a good investment."

"He's right," Drew told the teen. "I can't put something like this together in a cave on a remote island."

"How can you people act like this!" Kim roared at the others in the room, after a few moments of stunned disbelief. "You owe him! You owe me! You owe the two of us!"

"I admit a certain affection, generated by our rivalry," Senior told her. "But this does not justify me risking my fortune..."

"I'm not talking about a favor!" Kim interrupted, shouting him down. "How many times did we stop you and your son from taking your villainy from a bored, rich man's hobby to an act with real consequences?"

Senior could only stare at her, confused.

"Your son planned to steal the Crown Jewels of England!" She reminded him, loudly. "Do you think Her Majesty's Government would have just let you have them? How long would your spinning tops of doom and your doors that go whoosh have protected you from the Royal Navy?"

Senior looked properly chagrined.

"And you!" She turned to Drakken. "You tried to kill him and me over and over again, but that's not why you owe me! You owe me because we kept your plots from getting to the point where people got killed. Did you _want_ to be a mass murderer?"

"Well...no..." he admitted.

"Your diablo plot, your stunt in Wisconsin, if you had managed to finish them, hundreds of people would have died, maybe more! _WE_ stopped you, _WE_ kept you from becoming a criminal that would have had every law enforcement agency and every vigilante in the world out for your head!"

"But...I'm helping you," he protested.

"And you're giving up as soon as Global Justice says to quit!" She snapped back. "You never did that when you were a villain!"

"But I can't do this on some poorly equipped, primitive cave somewhere, with all the world looking for me."

"How many of your inventions did you build under just those circumstances?" She demanded.

"Well...dozens," he admitted.

"It won't happen this time," Dr. Director interrupted her tirade. "I can assure you, he'll be watched like a hawk, so you might as well quit trying to blame him."

"You're the worst of the bunch!" Kim turned to snarl at the older woman.

The young redhead advanced, hissing her accusations as she closed the distance.

"How many times did we go into a situation, because you suspected something was up but didn't have the probable cause you needed to officially investigate? How many times did we face strange rays, bizarre weapons, weird creatures, angry henchmen and other bizarre defenses so your organization could do its job? What did we ever get in return? Just a ride to the next situation. You owe me!"

"My personal debts do not justify endangering the entire planet!" Director faced down her accuser. "I freely admit to my debts to you, but I don't have the right or the authority to let you put the whole world at risk to bring him back here! Besides, he can't come back here!"

"I know that!" Kim spat at her. "And I have no intention of trying to bring him back! I'm going to go there! How does that harm this planet?"

"Can you guarantee that the other side won't observe and mimic this technology?" Dr. Director asked her, now in a reasonable tone of voice.

"What are they going to do?" Kim sneered at her in return. "Invade our planet, one car-sized sphere at a time?"

"Look around you. Whomever Dementor was trading with didn't send the grimm that destroyed this facility, she sent the ability to create the grimm. Amy still has that ability; she escaped with Gil."

"You mean Gill," Kim countered her.

"It doesn't matter," Director pointed out. "She created a small army of the creatures, something we have no experience in countering. If I understand your earlier reports correctly, she's managed to harness our own hate and fear against us. What if this person...Sally..."

"Salem," Kim corrected.

"What if Salem manages to copy this transportation technology and makes contact with another warped individual on this world? What if she deliberately sends diseases for which we have no immunity across?" Dr. Director shook her head sadly. "As much as I would like to see you reunited with Mr. Stoppable, the risk to our planet is too great."

"What of the risk to Remnant?" Drakken pointed out. "Dementor sent nukes to them, as well as assault rifles. How many lives have been lost already? Has Ron already caused a pestilence? Will you cause one?"

"And what will you do when you get there?" James added. "You've spent most of your life educating yourself to be a productive member of our society. Will this education do you any good over there? If I understand the situation, not all of our science applies to their reality. You're an admired and capable person here, will you be the same over there?"

"I don't care!" Kim sobbed. "At least we'd be together!"

"Was that too much to ask for?" She asked, looking around the room again. "After all we did for this world, all we were willing to keep doing? We're all here right now because he took on a power he never wanted and when he needed to, was able to use it. In return, we just wanted to live our lives in this world that we saved over and over again. I can handle the fact that an accident took him away, that he can never come back to live here, but it's the people here that won't let me go be with him! That's all I'm asking, that you return the favors we did for you...that I did for you...so that we can be together wherever he is."

Around the room, people refused to meet her eyes. It was clear that nobody was willing to take the risks, be they financial, legal or even physical danger to help her.

"So that's it?" Her voice, while very small, was somehow also unassailable, wounding everyone in the room in a way that hurt more than pain. "After all I've done for you, after all I've done for the world, none of you can come through for me when I really need you to?"

"I honestly wish we could," Dr. Director told her, after silence reigned for a time. "But you can't simply create a breakthrough of the sort you demand. Also, giving you this favor may endanger both worlds."

Kim didn't have an answer.

"There's one other item," Dr. Director actually sighed before producing a device that looked a great deal like Kim's Kimmunicator. "I didn't want to show you this, but I think I need to."

The device created an image in the air above it. Kim gasped and Hirotaka, despite his usual composure started. Drakken's eyes flew wide.

The image was of a grimm-like body, black with white plates. Somehow, despite the color scheme, the body bore a strong likeness to Montgomery Fiske.

"This came from Dementor's Lair," Dr. Director told Kim. "After sifting through the records, we believe that this was the reason that Amy was working with Dementor. She seems to have been working on this form, but had not completed it when we raided the place. If our interpretations of her records are correct, she believed that she would be able to somehow place Fiske's soul in this body." She gave Kim a penetrating look. "Fiske has been missing for years, do you have any idea where he is, or why Amy would think that she could accomplish this?"

"It's a long story," Kim told her. "And I would like to speak to Hirotaka about it before speaking to you."

"If his is a danger to the world..."

"It might be," Kim confessed. "But there's also the privacy of a secretive organization to take into account. I will tell you that we had a stone that Amy believed to hold Fiske's soul with her when we recovered Dementor."

"And where is this stone now?" Director asked her.

"The last I saw, Ron had it when he vanished back to Remnant," Kim told her, then a thoughtful look came over her face.

"What is it?" Director asked.

"Just idle speculation," Kim told her. "I guess we might as well go into quarantine, nothing's going to happen until Global Justice is satisfied that we're not all disease carriers."

Dr. James Possible knew his daughter's expressions. Kim was still distraught over her inability to join Ron, but she seemed just a little upbeat, as if she had hope.

He knew what it meant; his daughter had a plan.

* * *

Weiss understood necessity, but she was beginning to wonder why necessity was so...necessary. Both Ron and Winter were hurt and should be recuperating, yet both were currently on the train, along with her, Qrow, Taiyang, Raven, the Belladonas, and Sun. The hunters; past, current and future, weren't the only ones on the train but fortunately, with the Battle of Kuchinashi over and won, there wasn't much demand for travel out of the city. This meant that those who didn't get along with each other all that well didn't have to travel in the same car.

When it came to the arrangements, Weiss had insisted that Winter and Ron _not_ ride in the same compartment. It wasn't that she didn't think they would get along, it was that she was sure that Winter still had certain suspicions about Ron's relationship with the younger Schnee and such arrangements would be awkward, to say the least. Especially since Weiss really didn't know what she wanted that relationship to be. Her moment of melancholy was washed away with humor, when she remembered setting things up for her extended party.

She had expected to spend her time with Winter, while Rufus kept Ron company. However, Sun insisted on spending time with Ron and Blake seemed to want to accompany him. Rufus did not like being in close proximity to Blake...Weiss didn't understand why...and accompanied her when she left to visit her sister. Much to Weiss' shock, Winter seemed intrigued by the intelligent, somewhat coherent rodent. Feeling both put off and amused that her sister seemed to prefer Rufus' company to hers, Weiss left the two in Winter's cabin and returned to Ron's. There, she found the Earth Man to be strangely quiet while Sun and Blake discussed their next step.

"So you're not keeping secrets?" Blake asked her as she walked in. "You don't know why we're all heading to Mistral City?"

"I know why Ron and I are on this train," Weiss told her friend. "I need to get back to Atlas as soon as possible, and my airship is in Mistral City."

"But why drag Ron along?" Sun demanded. "He's hurt!"

"The best way to fight a lie is with the truth," Weiss told him. "Whitley is insinuating that Ron's a robot. I'm going to show everyone who believes the little toad that Ron's flesh and blood."

"By outing him as someone from beyond Remnant!" Sun pointed out. "What happens to him then?"

"Whatever happens, happens," Ron sighed. "I'm tired of living secret like this. If people want to treat me like a freak, let them." He yawned deeply.

"But why are the rest of us making this trip?" Blake asked.

"I only know what you do," Weiss shrugged her shoulders. "After the battle, Qrow said that we all needed to meet with General Ironwood and someone else, who's just as important. It was important enough for General Ironwood to record a scroll message. You saw it just like I did."

"I just wish I knew what this was all about," Blake grumbled a little. "I don't like being told that I have to run off and do something. I thought that when the battle was won, we would be free to live our lives."

"The good guys never seem to have that option," Ron murmured. He yawned again before continuing, "when you become a hero, someone always has a call on your time."

"That's depressing," Sun pointed out. "Are you okay? You seem a little down."

"I'm just...sleepy, all of a sudden," he murmured. "And for some reason, I just became...sad."

"Then we should let you sleep," Weiss told him.

"I'd like to spend some more time with my parents," Blake said to the group. "Who knows if I'll be going back to Menagerie with them or not."

"And I'd like to spend some time with my sister," Weiss decided. "Even if she's talking with a rat."

"No dissing the Rufus," Ron chided her, even though he had a bit of a smile.

"I'll chill with Blake," Sun told him. "Are you going to be okay here, by yourself?"

"I'll be sleeping," his voice was already fading. "Trust me, I don't get lonely when I do that."

The two faunus left while Weiss remained for a few minutes, just watching Ron as his breathing grew deeper and more regular. Finally, not knowing really how she felt about him sleeping by himself, she turned and made her way to Winter's cabin. There, she got a bit of a shock. Winter's scroll projected a chess board onto the folding table that sat over her lap. As Weiss watched, Rufus scampered into the holographic board, patted one of his pawns and then another square. As he left the board, the piece he had touched moved forward one square, where it covered another pawn that was threatened by one of Winter's knights. Her older sister stared at the board, contemplating her move.

"Er, maybe I should come back later," Weiss remarked. The two contestants, engrossed in the match, actually started just a bit.

"Oh, Weiss," Winter greeted her. "My apologies, I was intent on the match."

"I see..."

"However, I always have time for my sister. I can merely save the match."

"I don't want to interrupt..." Weiss tried to say.

"Nonsense!" Winter waved away the comment. "Besides, there are some things that I think we should speak about...in private."

Rufus looked somewhat crestfallen and nervous.

"I promise that we will continue this contest in the future," Winter assured the rat.

"Ron is napping," Weiss told him. "And Blake has gone to speak with her parents."

Rufus perked up a little, squeaked something that Weiss swore included the word 'okay' and hopped down to the floor. Moments later, he scampered out of the cabin, ostensibly to join Ron and catch some sleep.

"A most unusual creature," Winter commented, saving the match. "And a very clever opponent. I was down three peanuts to him when you intervened."

"To be honest, I never thought I'd see you playing chess against a rat," Weiss allowed a bit of the situation's humor to creep into her voice.

"I'm afraid that he cheats at pinochle," Winter told her. "But we can discuss such competition at a later time Now, I wish to discuss the reason that I insisted you return to Atlas, as soon as possible."

"You already have," Weiss managed to stop herself before she rolled her eyes. "Humanity needs dust if it's to survive and that means the Schnee Dust Company must continue its work. If Whitley manages to put someone under father's influence in the CEO's seat or, dust forbid, manages to get father back, we'll be in a bad way."

"That's not the half of it," Winter sighed and for a moment, Weiss felt like a young soldier that the officer was about to send on a suicide mission. "If it were just a matter of dust, father would be more than acceptable. In fact, when it comes to pure dust production, he proved better than you did."

"I'm certainly hoping that I'm about to hear that it's more than dust."

"Indeed," a flash of suppressed humor flickered behind Winter's eyes. "Weiss, Atlas is the most powerful military force on the planet...or at least it was before the debacle over BatiKiyisi. Even with these losses, our culture and technology remains. If this ultimate enemy we are fighting is to be vanquished, we're eventually going to have to bring overwhelming might to bear against her. To do that, we need a strong, stable Atlas."

Weiss merely nodded.

"You helped to provide that. In your brief tenure as CEO, you addressed faunus complaints and set upon the long process of bringing honor back to the Schnee name. In addition, your subtle bullying of General Ironwood meant that you were able to re-establish trade and communications between the kingdoms...at least to a certain extent."

Weiss had no answer. How does one argue with compliments?

"And now we come to the bad news, to the sacrifice you must make," Winter told her. "Sister, you are needed in the boardroom! Remnant needs Atlas, Atlas needs the Schnee Dust Company and the Schnee Dust Company needs you!"

"So much for my plan of regaining the family honor as a huntress."

"It's an honorable plan," Winter assured her. "But you must ask yourself two questions. The first is where can you make the greatest impact for the good; as a huntress or as the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company? The second question you must ask is this; are your dreams to become a huntress worth the loss to Remnant should you choose that path?"

"How convenient!" Weiss snapped. "You had the same choices, yet you only bring them up when you are already a huntress and, coincidentally, sworn to Atlesian Military Service!"

"That's a fair complaint," Winter nodded, although both her tone and her manner showed the irritation she was feeling. "Yet, consider this; at the time I attended Atlas Academy, the world had been at peace for decades. Grimm attacks were at the lowest level in recorded history and cooperation between the kingdoms was at its highest. The agitation caused by our father's predatory business practices was insufficient to cause unrest great enough to threaten anything but the family reputation. Yet now, kingdoms distrust each other as do the social classes within Atlas itself. Those agitations that were insignificant only five years ago now threaten Atlas and, by extension, Remnant. The consequences of the choice you face are different than the consequences that I faced."

"And so, conveniently, you were able to turn a blind eye to the family reputation," Weiss concluded for her. "Much like I did until a broader perspective forced my eyes open."

"I freely admit that I did not take appropriate action," Winter's eyes trailed down in shame for a short time. "But the choice is now yours; what path will you take?"

"Do you not find it ironic?" Weiss asked her. "During the Vytal Tournament, you challenged me to break free of our father and explore both Remnant and myself upon my terms. Now, you challenge me to follow the path that father had planned for me."

"If you reject father's wishes without viewing the consequences, you are every bit as chained to them as if you follow them without thought." Winter countered. "But you know that this isn't the plan father had for you. You were to be a figurehead; the aloof and stunning heiress, every inch a Schnee. You would be the public face of the company while he held the real power and continued his questionable practices behind a shield of anonymity. You have already defied him by ousting him from that position of power. Will you allow this act of courage and integrity to come to naught, by allowing him to put one of his puppets back in that position?"

"Of course not!"

"Like it or not, sister, you are the one in position to make sure that our family's company never falls into such a state again." Winter heaved a deep sigh. "Like it or not, this is your burden to accept...or to reject and see what becomes of the situation."

"And what of you?" Weiss asked. "Will you be willing to sacrifice your own goals?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're sworn to serve in the Atlesian Military for what, another four years?" Weiss fixed her sister with a steady gaze.

"Six," Winter answered. "The contract I agreed to offered rapid advancement, but required a ten year commitment."

"Will you resign your commission at the end of this enlistment?" Weiss asked. "Will you give up your career with the Atlesian Military to help me run the company?"

"You have proven to be capable of operating it on your own," Winter informed her.

"I thought so," Weiss sprang to her feet. "I get to give up my dreams of being a huntress, but you're not willing to give up the same."

"Sit down!" Winter ordered.

"No!" Weiss snarled at her. "I am no longer under the employment of the Mistralean Government, which means that I am no longer under your command!"

"Weiss..."

"And I am no longer a little girl, dependent upon my family!" Weiss shouted Winter down. "I _AM_ the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company...because neither you nor mother really want to do the job. Since you've just told me the job is beneath you, don't expect me to be overjoyed that you've left me stuck with it!"

"I didn't mean..."

"Of course you did!" Weiss was shouting at her sister, but she didn't care. "Can you even recall the speech you just gave me? You spent minutes telling me how vital it was that the company be run by someone honorable and energetic, but the moment I suggested that you help take up our birthright by turning away from the path you've chosen, it becomes an unnecessary loss! In your own way, you're no different than father!"

Weiss spun and stormed out of the cabin, ignoring her sister's shout to halt. She was in no mood for further discussions with Winter and, after a moment's thought, decided that she really didn't want the company of Blake and her group, either. There were too many people who didn't know the full implications of the situation, and she was in no mood to fill them in. After a few more moments, she realized that standing in the hallway, where anyone could see her, wasn't a very good idea. Composing herself as best she could, she returned to Ron's cabin.

She wasn't so upset that she was about to storm into a cabin where a recuperating man was trying to rest, so she slid the door open as quietly as she could and slipped inside. Once the door was safely closed behind her, she found a seat and released her emotions. Tears poured from her eyes; tears for the huntress' life that she so desperately wanted...and that would be denied her. Was that too much to ask, the ability to prove herself, where her name and wealth would give her no advantage? Somehow, the wealth that came with her family name seemed more like a set of shackles than a blessing.

She didn't know how long she cried, attempting to be quiet so as to not disturb her sleeping friend. Finally, she regained control of herself and studied the young man. For a moment, she found herself smiling; Rufus sat right next to Ron, and the two were snoring in almost perfect synchrony with each other. However, her smile faded when she noted that both man and rat were emitting a faint, blue glow.

Her expression grew confused when when Ron mumbled in his sleep.

"Master Sensei?"

* * *

 _A/N: We're getting close to the end. I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and review this little endeavor but, as always, biggest thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta reading._

 _Until the next update, best wishes..._

 _daccu65_


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41: Chapter 41**

* * *

This was weird. Weird and creepy in a horrifyingly familiar way. Okay, horrifyingly familiar, with a good dose of 'why didn't I think of that' and just a touch of 'why did he wait until now'.

Ron _knew_ that he was napping on the high speed train between Kuchinashi and Mistral City, but he found himself sitting in Yamanouchi's formal gardens with none of the 'somebody is taking a cheese grater to my skin' feeling he had learned to associate with being on Earth. In front of him, Master Sensei, with his blue glow, floated above the ground.

"Time is short, young Stoppable," the old man informed him. "And you will probably have many questions, so I will dispense with the honorifics and formal speech. The time has come for the Mystical Monkey Power to move on from Earth, and that means that the time has come for you to do so, as well."

"I'm already off of Earth," Ron informed him. "And I can't come back. What do you mean that it's time for the Mystical Monkey Power to move on? For that matter, how are you talking to me? Is this just some weird dream?"

"You are, indeed, dreaming," the calm voice told him. "As for weird, that definition is up to you. I am able to project myself into your dream to communicate with you."

"So you waited until now?" Ron demanded. "I've been gone for almost a year! How long have you known that I was missing? Why didn't you do this until now?"

"I request that you refrain from future questions until a say what I must," Sensei told him. "But for your current questions; I learned of your exit from Earth a couple of days after it happened. As for why I waited until this time, the Mystical Monkey Power residing in the Lotus Blade only now empowered me to do so, but it will come at a price."

"What sort of price?"

"I will die, young Stoppable."

"Whoa!" Ron yelled. "No, stop this!"

"It is too late," Sensei's tone and expression showed no sorrow or anger. "Once I accepted this task, my fate was sealed. Do not mourn me overmuch, young man, for my life has been long and full. Instead, make use of the price I am paying so that I can convey such wisdom that the time I have remaining allows me."

"Okay, what do you need to tell me?" Ron was considerably less calm than the old man.

"Stoppable, the time has come for the Mystical Monkey Power to move on from Earth," Sensei told him. "It is a curious power, which craves new experiences and manifests in new people and via new means. It has grown bored with Earth, and now that it has saved our planet from the Lowardians, it is time for it to move on to a new home. It is time for it to move, completely, to Remnant."

"Okay, that sounds like you need me to do something."

"The _power_ requires an action of you," Master Sensei corrected him. "Call the Lotus Blade to you, keep it on Remnant. You are now on Remnant, as is Rufus and now Fiske's soul has made the journey, as well. The blade is the only tendril binding the Mystical Monkey Power to Earth. Call the blade to you and allow the power to become fully a force of Remnant."

"I can't do that!" Ron protested. "It's my only link to Earth! I can make it change forms and communicate! Without that, there's no way that anyone on Earth can know that I'm alive!"

"It is also time for you to become a man of Remnant." Sensei told him. "Since you cannot return, Ron Stoppable, the man of Earth, is dead. It is time for you to become Ron Stoppable, man of Remnant and the caretaker of the Mystical Monkey Power. I can reveal to you that Toshimiro himself came from somewhere beyond Earth, bearing the Mystical Monkey Power."

"What am I supposed to do?" Ron demanded. "Go carve a ninja school at the top of some mountain? I'm no ninja and I'm afraid of heights!"

"You will be guided by the Mystical Monkey Power," Sensei told him. "Even as you shape it. The proper way in which to guard it and pass it on to future generations will occur to you as you continue your life's journey."

"So now I can't even live my life in Remnant?" Ron was suddenly in no mood to sympathize with Sensei' situation. "I have to run to wherever the damned MMP decides I should go? What if it decides I should run off to some dust-forsaken corner of the world, neck deep in grimm, and form some secret society?"

"Then you will feel a compulsion to do so," Sensei informed him. "But the Mystical Monkey Power will not do so unless such actions fulfill a purpose. Toshimiro founded Yamanouchi because the school, and the location, furthered the purpose of the Mystical Monkey Power."

"And what purpose was that?"

"To prepare the Han to face the Yono," the old man answered. "The Mystical Monkey Power's purpose on Earth, with the Han now active and the Lowardians defeated, is finished. It is now time for this power to move on, and it has done so with the exception of the blade."

"That's not happening! I'm not a servant of the Mystical Monkey Power! I won't let it force me to do this!"

"You already have," Sensei offered a sad sigh. "Young Stoppable, you are now a man of Remnant, whether you wish to accept the fact or not. You cannot return to Earth. You can either resist your destiny and be miserable until you fulfill it against your wishes, or you can accept your situation and take joy in the willing fulfillment of what you are meant to do."

"So the MMP gets to keep bossing me around! I don't want to be a master on Remnant! I want to be a physical therapist on Earth!"

"That path is no longer open to you."

"Fine!" Ron's dream-self snarled. "But just because I made a mistake and wound up here, just because I didn't know that getting my aura unlocked would mean I couldn't go back to Earth, doesn't mean I'm going to be the MMP's whipping boy! I have rights; it's in the constitution!"

"Your constitution does not apply," Sensei gently pointed out.

"Well it should!" Ron huffed. "Simple mistakes shouldn't make me some slave to this power!"

"Young Stoppable, there was no mistake," Sensei told him. "The Mystical Monkey Power chose you for this honor."

"What? I don't underst..."

"It was not chance that led Fiske to research the jade statues. It wasn't chance that made him contact Kim Possible for assistance, when he was capable of recovering the fourth statue on his own. It wasn't chance that caused you to investigate the theft at Fiske's castle and it wasn't chance that the Mystical Monkey Power accepted you and Rufus in your moment of greatest need."

"Whoa! You're saying that the MMP pulled me to Monkeyfist's castle?"

"Perhaps that _was_ in error," Sensei admitted. "It is quite likely that the Mystical Monkey Power chose Kim Possible, yet she did not answer the call that evening."

"So what would have happened to me and Rufus if the MMP didn't approve of us?"

Sensei simply lowered his eyes.

"So the MMP would have just let Fiske kill me if I hadn't measured up?"

"Young man, please listen," Sensei implored. "The Mystical Monkey Power deals with primal forces affecting the lives of all primates. This power has allowed entire species, the gigantopithecus and neanderthals, to pass on because they were not what primate-kind needed. To it, the fate of an individual does not...cannot...affect actions that may affect the entire population."

"So, it can pull me from home, put me in a dangerous situation, and decide if I'm what it needs?"

"Such is the nature of the world...the nature of the worlds...my young friend."

"And now I have to bring this unfeeling, uncaring force to Remnant?" Ron demanded. "A world that has enough problems already?"

"The Mystical Monkey Power is not uncaring," Sensei insisted. "It is constrained by necessity and logic, even as it strives to protect the ascendance of primates. It is because of the problems upon Remnant that the Mystical Monkey Power must go there. Primate-kind is in danger and it is time for it, and the champion that wields it, to go where needed."

"Whether I want to or not."

"Whether you wish to or not, you are already a man of Remnant," Sensei had set aside his usual manners to become demanding. "You will _never_ return to Earth, save for a few, painful minutes at a time. You can either be a child, complaining about that which he knows he will never have, or you can be a man and face the reality in front of you."

"Sensei..."

"Furthermore, you can choose to be a man of honor, accepting the burdens that an admittedly unfair universe sets upon him; or you can be a man of dishonor," Sensei continued. "Shirking such duties and letting others suffer as a result."

"How can people suffer?" Ron was perplexed, and more than a little put-off by the old man's suddenly harsh tone.

"Do you think that the Mystical Monkey Power was always hidden from the world, locked away by a key whose four parts were scattered across the globe? No! It purposefully hid itself; made itself difficult to access because it had no intention of being used either recklessly or trivially! In Fiske, it found the ambition that it wanted but not the compassion and humility."

"So why did it choose me?" Ron demanded. "I hated monkeys!"

"Which is why it chose you. You feared and hated this power; feared and hated the fact that you were forced to accept it in order to survive!" Sensei's projection sighed again. "Young Stoppable, I heard a commentator of your former country's political system once say that it is better to have a poor president that is reviled by the press than a good president that is beloved by the press. For in the former situation, every action the president takes is subject to scrutiny and criticism while in the latter case, questionable actions will be ignored or explained away. It is much the same with you and the Mystical Monkey Power. It is better to have it wielded by a marginal handler who hates and fears it, than by a master handler who covets it and seeks greater power. You exhibited a combination of caution, fear and a desire to support those whom you loved at any cost."

"And because of this, I get yanked away from the life I knew," Ron shook his head.

"The universe does not exist to make you comfortable," Sensei told him. "Yet my time grows shorter and I must give you what advice I can, if you will hear it."

"Okay," Ron shrugged. "What do I need to do."

"Young Stoppable, Remnant is going to be faced with many crises. Some will come in your lifetime, and it will be up to you to face them. Some will come well after your time is over, so it will be up to you to establish a method to pass on this power to worthy candidates."

"Worthy?" Ron scowled. "Or unfortunate?"

"If you dislike the method you came about the stewardship of the Mystical Monkey Power, then create an alternate method!" Sensei snapped at him. "Or will you continue to be the child, always whining but never willing to put in the effort to make something better?"

"Well, I'd prefer to be a child," Ron admitted. "But that's not going to accomplish anything for anyone, is it?"

"No," Sensei fixed him with a hard look.

"Okay, I'll do my best," Ron assured him. "But I have no idea how to...work with...manipulate...change, or whatever you want to say about using the power."

"This will reveal itself to you," Sensei assured him. "Continue to wield the power, continue to serve your fellow primate, and you will gain an understanding. Do not simply utilize the power; be it's master and servant at the same time! You may be startled to find that your life need not be much different than what you have known."

Sensei shuddered, showing weakness but no pain.

"My time on Earth comes to an end," he told the younger man. "Let me take what few seconds remain to wish you well and to implore you, young Stoppable, to call the blade to you and live your destiny. Turn your back upon Earth and embrace Remnant! The longer it takes you to embrace your new home, the more you, the Mystical Monkey Power, and Remnant will suffer. Until you accept that you are now a man of Remnant, your heart will remain on Earth and neither you nor the Mystical Monkey Power can be whole. A chapter in your life has ended, accept this and turn the page! Remember the past chapter fondly, but do not seek to relive it!"

Somehow, Ron sensed a smile on the old man's face, even though it was hidden by his flowing mustache. "Farewell, Ronald Dean Stoppable, until such time that we may meet again, far beyond the horizons of either Remnant or Earth."

And then, with no noise or fanfare, the old man simply vanished.

"Sensei!" Ron screamed, although he knew it would do no good. The sound of his own voice woke him, and he was now once again sitting on a reclining chair on the high speed train. Nearby, Weiss sprang to her feet, rapier in hand, apparently also awakened by his shout. Rufus sat on his lap, quietly sobbing.

"That must have been an intense dream," the girl quipped, returning her weapon to its sheath and forcing herself to calm.

"It was," Ron admitted, laying a comforting hand over his small friend. "But it was more than a dream. A teacher of mine passed away, but he spoke to me before he left."

"More of this Monkey Power of yours?" She asked him. He could only nod.

"It must have been some bad news," she added, with a nod towards Rufus.

"Sensei passing was bad enough," he told her. "But the news...the advice...was sort of disturbing."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'd like to straighten things out in my own head, first," he told her, after a few moment's thought. "Right now, I'd just confuse you...and myself."

"I get the idea," Weiss assured him. She consulted her scroll for a few moments. "We're due to arrive in Mistral City in about twenty minutes. I'm going to make a last check on everyone before we get there."

She gave him a very gentle pat on the shoulder, with her hand lingering and a look of indecision on her face. Finally, she summoned the willpower to leave the cabin and search out friends and family.

Ron sighed with disappointed relief when she left. She had looked like she wanted to kiss his cheek but that wasn't right; he was with Kim...even though he wasn't. He could never go back so what was keeping him from trying to establish something with Weiss? Somehow, it just didn't feel right so he decided that some things were best not messed with. Heaving another sigh, he reached out his hand to summon the Lotus Blade...but just couldn't force himself to do it.

Was this what Sensei meant by not being whole? He knew that he had to move on; after all, he had given Kim the message so she knew that they could never be together, so what was stopping him? He imagined a possible future for himself; one like the Fearless Ferret. He would live in the Schnee Mansion, establish a hidden lair and rush out to fight injustice whenever it reared its ugly head. Extending his hand again, he concentrated...but just couldn't call the blade.

Okay, that was a silly idea, but there were other ways that he could live his life on Remnant. Maybe he could be a hero like Team Go; who everyone knew defended their city. The idea held some appeal to him, as he remembered the cheers from the stands when he was first a high school, and then a collegiate running back. A champion of the people, that was a worthy way to meet his destiny, wasn't it? He held out his hand but when he tried to call the blade, he realized that when he played football, the cheers he really appreciated were from his parents, Kim's parents, Felix, Monique and his other friends...but mostly those of a redheaded cheerleader. Sighing, he again failed to bring himself to turn his back on his old life.

There were other ways. He pictured himself as a wandering hero, much like the hunter team that Team RNJR was striving to be. He could roam the kingdoms and beyond, trading his fighting ability for his needs and making a name for himself. Again, he extended his hand but again, he couldn't force himself to call the blade. Wandering Remnant on his own would be lonely and he was a people person. Granted, he never had many friends but those he had were precious to him. Of course, a beautiful face, framed by a glorious red mane came to his mind.

He knew that he had to move on and put Earth behind him. Sensei was correct, he had to rally up that last bit of willpower to finally turn his back on his old life...but he couldn't. According to Sensei, calling the blade would help give him a direction to follow, but until he had a direction, he couldn't bring himself to call the blade and sever his last connection to Earth. He sobbed and chuckled at the same time, wondering if there was some way out of this mess he found himself in.

* * *

Quarantine could be incredibly boring.

Despite her best efforts to study on line, despite her best efforts to scour the internet for any news about any of her friends, Kim was bored. She couldn't even pass the time by being angry at Dr. Director or the medical staff that operated this facility. Upon reflection, Kim had to admit that contact between worlds brought with it major chances for a catastrophic pandemic. Dr. Director had been acting responsibly, not cruelly, when she confined everyone who had been near Ron, or near anyone who had been near Ron. Furthermore, Global Justice had made every effort to make the former military barracks that they were confined in as comfortable as possible.

Still, there wasn't much to do. Kim was close to running out of anything that was even moderately diverting on line, while she wasn't much interested in the pool table, dart board, and other diversions in the old rec room. Thus, when her mother tapped at her door before walking in, she welcomed what promised to be a somewhat uncomfortable conversation.

"Your father tells me that you were trying to go to Ron's new world," the older redhead stated, avoiding all small talk and taking a seat on Kim's bed. Realizing that this could be a long conversation, Kim turned her chair to face her mother.

"Yes," she said simply. "It's technically difficult and will require additional breakthroughs in physics, mechanics and engineering, but the team I assembled will be able to do it."

"Why?"

"Mom, how can you even ask?" Kim was flabbergasted. "He was going to ask me to marry him and I was going to say yes! He can't come back, that means that I have to go there!"

"Even after he told you not to?" Anne bore in.

"Mom, he just wants to keep me safe, but I don't care about safe! The two of us have faced the bad guys for years, so we'll be fine there! I...I want to spend my life with him and you would have approved if he was still here!"

"But he isn't here," Anne sighed. "Kim, the team you put together is going to be under very strict observation from now on, they may never be able to recreate what they already have, much less refine it. Your father tells me that you had a very...calculating expression on your face when you found out that Drew wouldn't be allowed to continue work on his invention."

"Well...I had an idea," Kim admitted.

Anne calmly looked at her daughter.

"Okay, Ron gets drawn to me whenever I'm in extreme danger," Kim told her. "But once I'm safe, he's sent back to Remnant. I plan to put myself in danger and the next time he's drawn to me, I'll grab him and be pulled along with him."

"What makes you think that will work?"

"Well, he was able to leave the scroll with me the last time," Kim pointed out. "And Rufus made the trip to Remnant with him the first time, then back to Earth and back to Remnant again the second time. He can take and leave things, so I want to be one of the things he takes back."

"The scroll and Rufus are both very small," Anne pointed out. "While you're nearly the same size that Ron is. However, I think you need to re-think this plan for a couple of reasons."

This time, Kim just looked at her mother.

"First of all, putting yourself in danger is a foolish thing to do. In both cases that Ron was sent between the worlds, you were seconds away from death. What if he isn't quick enough the next time? What if the danger proves to be too much? Do you know where he returns to when he goes back to Remnant? What if either of you are wounded badly and wind up somewhere with no medical care? Is it worth it to go to Remnant with him, only for one of you to watch the other die?"

Kim had no answer.

"Secondly, I understand that returning to Earth is extremely painful to him," Anne continued. "Do you know, beyond a doubt, that the damage he takes isn't serious or permanent? While he said that it's painful but not life-threatening, is he just trying to save your feelings. Does your need to be with him mean that you're willing to put him through pain or injury?"

Kim couldn't answer.

"Finally, we've both gone over the messages he left for you," Anne caught her daughter's eyes with her own. "He specifically asked you to move on from him."

"But he didn't know about the work I was doing with Drakken!" Kim protested.

"I'm sure that Rufus filled him in," Anne told her. "I can't really understand the little guy, but he seems to be able to communicate complex ideas with Ron. So, you have to ask yourself if there are other reasons why he wants you to stay here and put him in your past."

"Like what?"

"It could be anything," Anne told her. "You said that he has new equipment and had improved, is he treated like a circus freak? Do the people there keep him imprisoned or controlled in some other way? Does this world treat women like second class citizens, or perhaps view redheads as evil?"

"You're kind of reaching," Kim commented. "He didn't include anything like that in his messages."

"Am I reaching? Could he have been observed while making the recordings? This is a completely different reality, so you have no way of knowing what the environment, or the society, is like. Yet Ronald, who is the only Earth Man to visit the planet, has asked the person he loves and desires more than anyone to put him behind her." Anne took a deep breath, dreading what she had to say next. "There's also the possibility that he's found someone else."

"Mom!" Kim protested. "He wouldn't..."

"He's been gone for almost a year," Anne pointed out. "And if his messages are to be believed, he's been in serious danger, several times. He's away from everything that he knows and can never return. Under these circumstances...straying...would be understandable."

"I don't care," Kim was getting upset. "He's mine and I'm his. I don't care if I go there and find him with someone else! I'll understand, we'll move on and we'll be together, like we're supposed to be!"

"Even though he asked you not to," Anne stressed. "Kim, the two of you were putting together a love story that teens would have been talking about for decades and, surprisingly enough, their parents would have approved of. However, the only way you're going to him is by putting yourself into danger and putting him through extreme danger and pain. He's already asked you to put him in your past so you have to ask yourself, do you love him enough to respect his decision?"

With that, Anne Possible got up and left. Kim found herself wondering if her plan, which had seemed so clever and brave before this conversation, was really foolish and selfish.

* * *

It was a large group that stepped off of the train in Mistral City, to be met by Ruby, Ren, Nora and Yang. Yang and Ruby threw themselves at their father, who embraced them with a great deal more restraint than they were used to. Neither of the girls noted the scowl on his face as they greeted their uncle. Qrow, however, refused to let the group hold their reunions; he ushered them into a small bus for a quick trip to Haven Academy. Despite everyone's protests, he refused to discuss why they had to go there, stating only that those who were owed money wouldn't receive it until they had this meeting and that those who wanted answers would get some. Once at the academy, he led them directly towards the headmaster's private conference room, inside, there were a couple of shocks for everyone.

For one thing, General Ironwood was present, in a wheelchair. He did not rise when the students came it, which told everyone that he was still not well. Winter, in her own wheelchair, gasped openly upon seeing her commander, whom she had thought lost. Qrow wouldn't allow emotional reunions; ushering the visitors to a chairs around the conference table. While everyone was finding a place to sit, Weiss, more accustomed than the others to organizational hierarchies, noticed something very odd.

Headmaster Lionheart was not sitting at the head of the table; the boy, Oscar, was.

"Thank you all for coming," Oscar spoke, but his voice sounded somehow more mature and confident than it had when Weiss had heard him last. "I'm sure that you have a great deal of questions; and why I've called you all here is probably the first on the list. However, I'll first make a statement that will probably create more questions; I am professor Ozpin."

Her time in the boardroom, where members routinely tried to catch each other by surprise, gave Weiss the ability to remain unfazed and observing of the others during this revelation. Instead of verbally denying the claim, she observed those around her. While everyone else either looked shocked, doubtful or even declared that it was impossible, Raven, Qrow, Lionheart and Ironwood were not surprised by the revelation. Recalling how Qrow was both protective and deferential to the boy, Weiss realized that it must be the truth.

The din eventually died down and Oscar...or Ozpin...explained his curse for his soul to be merged with a like-minded individual's every time he died. Again, Weiss observed those around her, noting that the four who hadn't been shocked by the revelation didn't seemed surprised while almost everyone else continued to look shocked and amazed...except for Taiyang. Taiyang looked increasingly angry.

"...so our opponents are organized," Ozpin told the group. "And these opponents take their orders from Salem."

"Not everyone who doesn't serve the headmasters is her agent," Raven pointed out, with an icy voice.

"Indeed," the tone and nod seemed so out of place for the young boy. "There are bandit tribes, criminal organizations, unethical business leaders, and other such minor adversaries to be found."

Both Weiss and Raven shot the boy/man dirty looks over this statement.

"However, these organizations do not seek the elimination of the kingdoms or the academies. I prefer to leave such to the individual kingdoms' police forces and to concentrate on the more powerful adversary."

General Ironwood did not have fine motor control; his head lurched as he turned it to give Oscar a hard look. The old man's soul in the young man's body noted this.

"Some of my colleagues disagree with this," he admitted. "Some feel that it would be better to eliminate these minor opponents, get them out of our way, then deal with Salem. However, experience has taught me that this is not a wise move. If you eliminate a bandit tribe, another will rise in its place. If you capture a criminal kingpin, another scoundrel will assume control of his syndicate. If you impose ethics on a businessman, another will scout out legal loopholes. If you expose a dishonest politician, another will learn how to be more cautious in his swindling." The boy sighed in the manner that only a world-weary old man could. "Yet, at the end of the day, these lesser opponents are not worth the trouble to try to stamp out. The bandit tribe wants new settlers into their territory to prey upon, the criminal kingpin requires a functioning city in which to operate, the underhanded businessman needs a steady supply of workers and customers to exploit while the dishonest politician needs a prosperous kingdom to provide him with a strong economy from which to siphon his gains. All of these underworld characters are best handled by the local kingdoms and communities...unless they start to cooperate with the great enemy."

"Like the White Fang," Blake interrupted.

"Or Torchwick," Ruby added.

"Exactly," Oscar nodded to the two, in turn.

"So then, why the secrecy?" Taiyang demanded. From his expression, Weiss could tell that he was angry and struggling to remain civil. "Doesn't keeping the existence of Salem's organization make it that much easier for her to influence these groups? If everyone knew that there was some...avatar of a destructive god...out there, they'd be cautious."

"Or they wouldn't believe," Oscar countered him. "Or they'd believe too much. On one hand, most people would be skeptical, thinking that they are being manipulated while others would see Salem in every pickpocket and burglar. The current four kingdoms aren't the first civilizations humanity has established against the grimm, there merely the longest lasting. I've had many failures to teach me the level of the truth the populace is prepared to accept."

"And keeping secrets frees you up to tell whomever you want, just enough to get them to do what you want!" The blonde man spat back at him. "It allows you let people in, just enough to test their loyalty, to see what lengths they're willing to go for you, so you don't have to explain your actions!"

"Tai..." Oscar tried to reason with him.

"I don't think we're friendly enough to use nicknames," Taiyang interrupted. "At least not any more!" A look of sudden understanding suddenly showed on his face. "I don't think we ever were, I just didn't know it."

"I understand that you feel that you've been manipulated..." Oscar tried to calm him.

"Do you?" Taiyang roared, suddenly leaping to his feet. Placing both hands on the table in front of him, he snarled at the ancient spirit in the boy's body. "You let Qrow and Raven, teammates of mine, into your inner circle back when we were teens! I thought I was part of this group, but it turns out there's a whole inner layer I never knew of! What was the reason? Was I too weak, too idiotic or was I such a simp that you got what you wanted from me without letting me know more?"

"Would you believe any answer I gave you at this time?" Oscar asked him.

"Probably not," Taiyang admitted. "Not any more!"

"Sit down, Tai," Qrow told him. "Fighting here isn't going to do you any good."

"You're just as bad!" Tai snarled at the huntsman. "Did you let my daughter know that there would be someone like Tyrian hunting for her when you put the bug in her ear to walk to Haven Academy?"

"Tai..."

"And I'm even worse!" The blonde man roared. "I bought into that tripe that you only wanted to tell her enough to keep her focused on being a huntress, to help her become determined rather than depressed. I should have known better! I should have realized that you were manipulating her, just like you've manipulated me for all these years."

Qrow could only drop his gaze to the table.

"And what have I done?" Taiyang grumbled, while turning his attention back to Oscar. "I've raised my daughters to be perfect fodder for your little mill, haven't I? Not only that, how many students have passed through Signal? How many young people have I taught to give of themselves for the sake of Remnant? That made it all the easier for you to push them into the roles you've decided for them, didn't it?"

"I wish that I could deny your accusations," Oscar told him. "But I cannot. You're an excellent instructor, Mr. Xiao Long, and you've prepared several classes of students, both physically and morally, to attend hunters' academies."

"How many young people have gone out on one-way missions because I filled their heads with inflated ideals of honor and sacrifice?" Taiyang demanded. "Why can't we adults shoulder our load? Why can't we come out, be honest and face the enemy as a species?"

"There's another issue with that," Oscar admitted. "If we were to do so, the public would demand that we unlock the aura of everyone who steps forward to fight."

"I don't understand the problem with that." Taiyang admitted. "If it makes you stronger, faster and capable of taking a few hits, why shouldn't everyone have their aura activated?"

"Because of a side effect, one which makes if very unwise to unlock the aura of most of the population." Oscar told him.

"And is this another of the secrets that you've decided that we shouldn't know about, even though we already have our aura's activated?" Taiyang had gone well past angry at this point.

"I agree with my father," Yang chimed in. "We've been jumping to your tune, but you haven't been very honest with us. If we're going to continue to risk our lives four this cause, we have the right to know the truth, even if it's too late to do anything about it."

"Uncle Qrow hinted that there was a side effect," Ruby added. "But he said that we weren't quite old enough to worry about it."

"Hey, I was taking pain medications and hadn't gotten over the poison yet," the huntsman protested.

"So you _almost_ trusted us?" Nora answered him. "We can only get the truth when someone in the know makes a mistake?"

"Perhaps this has been an error," Oscar sighed. "Very well, I suppose you all have the right to know."

"Professor Ozpin," General Ironwood's voice was weak as he interrupted. "Perhaps this isn't a good idea."

"And perhaps it is, old friend," the comment sounded bizarre, coming from the young boy. "Perhaps it is time to tell them the truth."

"But there isn't proof," Ironwood objected. "We can't be certain if we haven't determined a cause."

"You're a brilliant scientist, James, but do you really think that there is no correlation between the suspected cause and the effect?"

James Ironwood looked decidedly unconvinced.

"Very well," the weary sigh that Oscar graced the man with was one more in line with a man in his sixties. "Why don't I present the evidence, which is right here in this room, then my conclusions, and allow everyone here to decide if I am correct or not?"

Ironwood nodded his approval, a movement that seemed to tax his energy.

For a few moments, Oscar looked over everyone in the room with a calculating look on his face. Finally, he looked to Nora and Ren.

"Mr. Ren and Miss Valkyrie, both of you had a hunter as a parent, did you not?" He asked.

"My father was a hunter," Ren confirmed. "But my mother wasn't."

"I'm the opposite," Nora shrugged. "Mom was a huntress, dad was a blacksmith."

"Mr. Wukong, may I ask you the same question?"

"My parents aren't formal hunters," the monkey faunus shrugged. "There's an awful lot of on the job training in Vacuo, but they have active auras and fight grimm and bandits."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Na," Sun smirked at the entire room. "Ma says that they learned their lesson with me."

"Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna," Oscar turned to Blake's parents. "Both of you have active aura and your daughter is an only child. If it isn't too personal, did you wish for more children?"

"We wanted another," Ghira told him.

"But more children never happened," Kali finished.

"Mr. Xiao Long," Oscar turned to Taiyang. "I know that you have no reason to be forthcoming with me at the moment, but can I ask you if you intended Ruby to be your youngest child?"

For a time, Taiyang simply glared at the boy. Finally, with a sigh, he answered. "There's a reason I built my home as large as I did. I had planned for a large family."

"I can assure you all that Mr. Wukong's teammates in Team SSSN all have at least one parent with an active aura," Oscar continued. "And all are only children, as was the case with the late Pyrrha Nikos."

"I think I understand what you're getting at," Weiss spoke up. "There seem to be a lot of only children born to hunters and huntresses."

"It has been this way for nearly a century," Oscar told her. "Once a person has his or her aura unlocked, it is very rare for them to either father or give birth to more than one child. Because of this, many of the historic families, who were traditionally huntsmen or huntresses, have faded away."

"Our mother is an only child," Winter pointed out. "And our grandfather was a huntsman."

"Your father suspects this situation," General Ironwood told his subordinate officer. "Most people assume that hunter couples don't have many children because of the difficult life but Jacques suspects something else. This is why he was so upset that first you, and then your younger sister, chose to become huntresses."

"And it explains some of my easier missions," Tai grumbled. "Going around various small communities both in and out of the kingdoms and spreading stories of the brave huntsmen and huntresses who defend the world and how young people would never know if they could be one if they didn't apply."

"Children tend to follow in their parents' footsteps," Oscar told him. "Since fewer and fewer were being born to hunters, I had to encourage those without the background to follow the hunters' path. There has been no drop of in the quality of our graduates."

"But these kids didn't have the background to know how dangerous it can be!" Taiyang snarled at him. "Their parents didn't know, so couldn't warn them. I gave the rose-tinted view to a bunch of innocent kids and their ignorant parents!"

"Dad," Yang interrupted him. "Are you saying that I made a mistake by choosing to be a huntress?"

"Or me?" Ruby asked.

"That remains to be seen," the blonde man continued to glare at the old soul in the young body. "But you two made the choice knowing that the life cost your mother her life."

Raven glared at him, but held her tongue.

"Taiyang," Oscar took a more conciliatory tone. "That's the reason that we put our first year students through training missions, so they can decide to leave the life if it doesn't agree with them."

"A bad excuse," Tai snapped back. "You know how impressionable kids that age are! At thirteen years old, you put them in combat academies where they associate with hunters and fellow students. By the time they leave at seventeen, they don't even grasp that they can have a different life." His eyes flew wide. "And I've been a willing partner in the whole masquerade."

"The social isolation is an unintended act," Oscar told him. "I keep the students of combat and huntsman academies isolated from others so that they can focus on their training. The narrowing of their futures was something I never considered. I promise you that I will take steps to rectify the situation."

"Professor Ozpin?" Ruby asked, her voice small. "If someone with an active aura can only have a single child, how did I come about?"

"I didn't say that it was impossible, Miss Rose," Oscar told her. "I said that it was very rare. You are simply one of those rare exceptions, as is Mr. Arc."

"Me?" Jaune asked. "But my parents don't have active aura."

"A deception, for a couple of reasons," Ozpin told him. "Once your parents had their first three children, they decided that your father should retire from the huntsman's life. He had fought bandits as well as grimm, and feared that those he had opposed in the past might seek vengeance upon his family. He moved to a different town and spread the illusion that he was never a huntsman in the first place. Since I believe that Salem is aware of the link between fertility and aura, assuming that she isn't the cause, I felt it wise to assist him in this deception. Should she learn that a huntsman is capable of producing eight children, she will wish to know more about him. Salem's curiosity is often fatal to the subject."

"The cover didn't work," Ruby pointed out. "Tyrian said that he was interested in Jaune."

"So that's why you accepted me to Beacon," Jaune now sounded lost and hurt. "It wasn't because you saw potential, it was because you thought that I...that I would meet someone..."

"I freely admit this," Oscar sighed again. "I wanted your aura activated and to establish contact with you, so that I could observe you in the future and see if you had inherited the trait from whichever of your parents carried it." The boy paused again. "Sometimes, you find an unintended, positive outcome when you do the right thing. In your case, I saw a callow and foolish boy turn into a determined and capable young man."

"Is that the truth?" Jaune asked. "Or more manipulation?"

"Again, would you believe anything that I told you?" Ozpin asked. "Instead, ask your companions if you have improved."

"You have," Ren assured him, before he could ask. "Although you are still the weakest of us, the gap in capability has shrunk a great deal. You are clearly on your way."

"Thank you, Mr. Ren," Oscar nodded to the quiet, young man. "Now, comes a question to all of you. Knowing the truth, knowing that I have been secretive in the past and will continue to be secretive in the future, will you continue to serve as hunters? Will you stand against Salem, or will you let others fight in your stead?"

"What a way to phrase the question," Taiyang snorted. "How many wandering huntsmen are out there, doing the right thing, even though they're not dancing to your tune?"

"An honest point," Ozpin acknowledged. "I can assure you all that there will be no retribution against any of you if you choose to follow your own path at this time."

"I'll accept any of you at my academy," Professor Lionheart assured the young people in the room. "You can complete your training here, if you don't want to travel back to Beacon."

"I want to make a difference," Ruby told the headmaster. "But I don't like being lied to. I'll keep helping you, but I want you to be honest with me...with all of us. If we ask you something, answer, even if the answer is that you don't want to tell us."

"I agree to this," Oscar nodded.

"Then I'm in," Ruby told him.

"Me too," Jaune added.

Ren, Nora, Yang, Blake, Weiss and Sun all agreed.

"Very well, here are your missions," Oscar told them. "I must get back to Beacon Academy but my current form is hardly one that can hold its own in a struggle. If Salem's agents were to find me, it would go very badly for young Oscar. I would like Miss Rose, Mr. Arc, Miss Valkyrie and Mr. Ren to accompany me there. Once in Vale, we can see about dealing with the dragon on the side of Beacon Tower. I have some ideas."

The teens he had named all agreed.

"Miss Weiss...the younger Miss Weiss...will need to return to Atlas," Ozpin continued. "And Mr. Stoppable will need to accompany her. Also, while the transducer from Miss Xiao Long's arm was enough to save Headmaster Ironwood's life, it wasn't enough to give him full mobility at this time. The general will also return to Atlas, along with Miss Xiao Long. James, please make sure that the Atlas scientists repair her arm. Once this is done, the young people will be free to come to Beacon Academy."

"Makes sense to me," Yang shrugged.

"I liked Beacon," Weiss added. "Once we put Whitley in his place and put the rumors down, I might be able to appoint an acting CEO to assist mother...then I can keep track of what's happening while attending class."

"One place is as good as any other," Ron grumbled, which prompted a quick look from Weiss.

"Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna," Ozpin addressed the faunus leaders. "I can not even begin to convey how grateful I am that you intervened in this conflict. I can assure you that I will do anything in my power to promote equality, as will Headmasters Lionheart and Ironwood."

The two other headmasters nodded their agreement.

"Would you be so kind to tell us what you would like to do next, so that we can assist you?"

"I would like to see the young people that we brought with us enrolled in Haven Academy," Ghira told the headmaster. "Attending Beacon gave Blake a much wider view of the world than I had at her age. I would like to see the future of Menagerie have a chance to go out and mingle with humans...the good and the bad...and see that the propaganda the White Fang have been feeding them isn't the truth."

"If there are any that are interested, and that Headmaster Lionheart cannot make room for in Haven, I will be happy to make room for them at Beacon," Ozpin assured him. "However, there will be a great deal of field training. The last I heard, grimm still swarm the school grounds and the staff has established the school in a series of warehouses in Vale. Once we eliminate the dragon on the tower, we will need to clear the campus. It will be harrowing, but excellent training."

"Just as well," Kali nodded. "Let our young people fight shoulder to shoulder with humans. Let the humans' young people fight shoulder to shoulder with faunus. We'll see how deep the prejudices run after that."

"I'd like to return to Beacon," Blake interjected. "But first, I'd like to go back to Menagerie and make sure everyone understands the situation here."

"It will take some time to prepare the school," Oscar told her. "So you won't suffer for the time invested in another activity." He turned to Sun. "How about you, Mr. Wukong?"

"I kind of like Beacon," the blonde boy shrugged his shoulders. "And fighting grimm as well as classroom training sounds like a cool thing. If it's fine with everyone, I'd like to head back to Menagerie, kind of see more of the place, then transfer to Beacon."

For some reason, Blake looked both horrified and satisfied at the same time.

"Professor Lionheart and myself will make sure that your records are properly transferred," Ozpin told him. He then looked towards Taiyang.

"Mr. Xiao Long, I have a mission that you might find lucrative," Ozpin stated. "As well as for Raven. You were at Salem's citadel before coming to Mistral. I will see to it that you are paid handsomely to return and determine if she is still there."

"Why me?" The...perhaps former...schoolteacher demanded.

"Because you made the trip the last time and know the land," Ozpin told him. "Because you observed the level of activity in the immediate area and know what seems to be normal. I need you to retrace your steps, so that if Salem remains there, she doesn't suspect that her latest stronghold has been discovered."

"What good will it do?" Taiyang demanded. "Without the Atlesian air fleet, there's no strike force to call down on it...and without the CCT system in place, I can't keep anyone up to date."

"It is always a good move to keep tabs on the enemy," Ozpin reminded him. "Even if she's moved on, knowing where she isn't means that we won't waste time searching there anymore. If she is there, gauging her reaction to this setback will tell us how powerful she considers herself to be."

"I think we should take the mission," Raven told her companion.

"Two have a better chance to accomplish the mission than one," Ozpin noted. "But do you have reasons other than lien to go?"

"Tai and I have an agreement," she told the headmaster. "We're going to look into each others' lives a little, see if either of us have made mistakes and want to make a change.

"No!" Yang shouted, jumping to her feet. "Dad, you can't leave! You can't just go off with...her!"

"Do you appreciate the irony of you, of all people, objecting to me being near your father?" Raven's voice, although harsh, showed the humor she found in the situation.

"That has nothing to do with it!" Yang roared at her. "Dad's a teacher! He isn't an adventurer!"

"But maybe I should be," somehow, Taiyang kept his voice level. "Nobody seems to need me back on Patch."

"We need you!" Ruby protested.

"You left on this adventure, without telling me," Taiyang pointed out to his daughter. "And after I told you that I needed your help with Yang. I asked Yang to wait for me, but here she is. I can ask the two of you, even tell and beg the two of you to do something, but when Qrow hints that you should do something else, who do you listen to?"

Ruby and Yang looked first at each other, then to the floor beneath them.

"I'd say that you've both decided that you're adults," Taiyang continued. "You'll always be my daughters, I'll always love you, but I'm tired of being the one to stay at home while everyone around me heads out...and may or may not come back. It's time to see if a schoolteacher is all I am."

"But dad..." Yang protested.

"The two of you will always be welcome at my home," he interrupted. "But all three of us have to ask ourselves if we want it to be our home anymore." He heaved a sigh. "I've dedicated my life to my daughters, but now I have to wonder if that was a smart thing to do."

"I accept your offer," he told Ozpin.

"Very well," the youngster told him. "I will also hire Raven. The mission will not start for a couple of days, so you can make preparations and say your farewells."

Taiyang merely shrugged his shoulders and stalked out of the meeting room, Raven at his side.

"Hang on, firecracker," Qrow caught Yang's shoulder as she was ready to pursue them. "I sort of got your old man into this mess, so I'll be in position to keep him from getting into too much trouble. Oz wants a couple of teams down south, so I'll be close by in case he gets into more trouble than he can get out of."

"Actually, there will be two of you," General Ironwood announced. "Once Major Schnee is back on her feet, she'll be accompanying you."

"What?" Qrow and Winter both demanded.

"I want a representative of the Atlesian Military along," Ironwood told him. "She knows our capabilities and limitations better than you do, so she can determine the proper course of action, once Salem is located."

For several moments, Qrow looked at him with a stunned expression, then his usual smirk returned. "Four people are going to be down there," he quipped. "Tai and Winter can tolerate each other, Tai and Raven are kind of on a temporary truce; Winter and myself, Raven and myself, Raven and Winter, Tai and myself...all hate each other. It's going to be an interesting mission."

Winter actually smirked at the remark.

"But a necessary one," Ozpin sighed again. "Mr. Branwen, there has been tragedy enough in the world, so please..."

"I'll make sure that there's no more orphans," Qrow assured the older...and younger...man. He then looked to his nieces. "You girls took your old man for granted. It's a common mistake, but it's really hit him hard. He'll remember who he is; I've seen plenty of people have the 'who am I' crisis, then figure it all out. He's a good man and he'll remember that, once he gets a good dose of the alternative."

"Make sure he comes back," Yang told him, giving him a hug.

"And you come back, too," Ruby added, hugging his other side.

"Be well, yourselves," Qrow told them, patting Yang's shoulder and rustling Ruby's hair. "Keep growing and keep moving forward. The two of you will go far." He then looked at their assorted friends. "Watch out for each other, all of you. That's how everyone got here. You're not huntsmen and huntresses...not quite yet...but you're getting there. Teamwork can go a long way towards making up for a lack of experience."

The young people in the room sat a little straighter and looked a little more confident at that.

"I better get ready," Qrow drawled. "I'm not young enough anymore that I can leave with nothing more than a full flask."

"I believe that this concludes our meeting," Ozpin told those remaining. "Tomorrow morning, a train will leave for Wind Path, where a ship will be waiting for all of us who are heading to Vale. I suggest that all of you who are about to depart, spend as much time as you can with those who won't be accompanying you. You have probably come to learn that when you part, you do not know when you will see each other again, if ever. However, the other headmasters and myself have some details to discuss, so if you have no further questions, please enjoy what is left of this day."

Weiss had some questions; and she could see that some others did, as well. However, her questions seemed so petty that she didn't want to bring them up. Realizing that everyone was in the same situation, she got up and walked out of the room. Her exit proved to be the catalyst for the rest, and soon everyone except the headmasters was out of the room.

"Weiss," Winter turned her head slightly, so that she could see her younger sister from the corner of her eye. "You will be leaving for Atlas very shortly and our last conversation wasn't a pleasant one. Before you spend time with your friends, could the two of us enjoy a cup of tea together? I do not know when I will be able to speak with you again."

"Of course," Weiss agreed, then looked towards Ron, not wanting to leave him alone.

"Not to worry!" Sun announced, placing a friendly hand on the other blonde's shoulder...causing Ron to wince at the contact. "Mistral's my turf! I know all the cool places to hang out! I'll take everyone our age out for a good time, and we can all meet up this afternoon!"

His fellow teens sported expressions ranging from terrified to eager, but all agreed...after assuring Ron that he wouldn't have to do anything excessive. After giving Ron a sympathetic smile, Weiss returned her attention to her sister. Fortunately, Haven Academy had a proper tearoom on campus...not just the ubiquitous coffee stands, with the tropical queen theme, that seemed to be popping up everywhere. Soon, the two sisters were sitting in a private room, sipping tea and working up their courage to approach the coming conversation.

"I may as well say this," Winter told her sister. "I may have failed to tell you everything about your responsibilities to the family company and name."

A biting rebuttal occurred to Weiss, but she chose to bite her tongue.

"You, indeed, have the responsibility to maintain the good name of both the family and the company, but it need not be restrictive," Winter continued. "When you were in Beacon, I suggested that you turn your back upon our father and explore both Remnant and yourself. Even though you are now the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, you need not give up that goal."

Weiss quirked an eyebrow.

"As you said in the earlier meeting, you should be able to appoint a controller to operate the company in the manner you demand, under mother's guidance and facing your appraisal. This will give you the opportunity to complete your education at Beacon and become the woman you want to be." The officer took a deep breath. "If needed, I will not renew my commission when my current enlistment expires, freeing me up to assist you."

"That won't be necessary," Weiss assured her sister. "I had considered what you just suggested...I didn't know if you would approve."

"My approval should never be your requirement," Winter told her. "Although I will freely offer my advice. Sister, I placed a heavy burden upon you when I left our father's expectations behind. Demanding that you live up to them, with no assistance from me, was wrong." For the first time that Weiss could remember, Winter lowered her eyes, as if she were reluctant to face her younger sister. "I...I wish that I had the courage at your age that you are currently displaying."

"Courage?" Weiss protested. "Winter, you've thrown yourself into the defense of this kingdom with no regard to your own safety!"

"But I did not have the courage to defy the expectations of Atlas," Winter pointed out. "It is expected that a graduate of a combat academy, or someone who has been trained by a private instructor, attend the Atlas Academy. You defied that expectation, I did not. Graduates of the Atlas Academy are strongly encouraged...actually pressured...to join the Atlesian Military. I allowed myself to be blinded by the claims that it was the brave and honorable thing to do. Instead, I should have followed my own path, become a wandering huntress for a time and gained a wider perspective before committing myself like I have done."

"It wasn't wisdom on my part," Weiss admitted. "I just wanted to show father that I wasn't going to mindlessly be the girl he wanted me to be."

"But where I only had the courage to deviate from his wishes, you had the courage to throw them back in his face," Winter told her. "I am proud of you and if I can only offer one piece of advice, it is this; conduct yourself with honor but live the life you chose. Live on your terms, not the expectations of the family, the business, or even the kingdom. Think of this; if you choose to, you could turn your back on the family business, you could choose to not return to Beacon. Weigh what you wish to do with the honorable choice but don't let others...myself included...dictate your future for you."

While the rest of the conversation was pleasant, Weiss could only pay minimal attention to the topics she discussed with her sister. Her mind was overwhelmed with what Winter had suggested. At this time, she could, quite literally, do almost anything she wanted. The future was wide open for her and the possibilities made her head spin.

* * *

It was a large crowd that assembled at the Mistral City Train Station the next morning at dawn. Oscar chose to board the train early, so that his traveling companions could say their goodbyes without his interference. Elsewhere in the city, Weiss' airship was already prepared for takeoff. As soon as the group saw those traveling to Vale off, those who were traveling to Atlas would board a shuttle bus for the trip to the airport. Those who would be staying...or traveling to Menagerie later, would say their goodbyes to both groups at the same time.

Taiyang was present, and there were a great deal of tears shed as he hugged and said goodbye to his daughters. Weiss could understand the increased sorrow her friends felt; no matter what dangers they had faced in the past, they were certain that their father was still at their home, awaiting their return. That piece of security, knowing that he was safe at home, and that home would be waiting for them, had been torn away. Still, part of growing up was shedding those bits of safety.

She just wished that Ruby didn't have to grow up so fast.

It was probably for the best that they said their farewells at the train station. Since the trains worked on a schedule, they couldn't draw the parting out to a painful degree. Once Team RNJR, with Ozpin, were on the train, Taiyang turned and walked away. Yang and Qrow both sighed, but accepted that the man had some complicated issues to work through. Looking up, both saw a curtain in a window pull open to reveal Ruby's face pressed against the glass.

* * *

"I'm leaving them behind again," Ruby murmured. "My family...my team...I'm leaving them again."

"But this time, they know where you're going," Jaune told her, placing what hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You'll see them again."

"But we can't know that!" Ruby turned to the taller boy. "What will dad run into beyond the kingdoms? If he doesn't come back..." For a short time, as the train began to lurch into motion, she struggled with her thoughts.

"He never realized how much I love him," Ruby finally told her companion. "I tried to tell him yesterday and just now, but he's had months...maybe years...to get the idea that I didn't see him as anything but the man who provided for me."

"I guess we always take the most important people in our lives for granted," Jaune mused.

"No more!" Ruby said, firmly. As the train continued to judder, she turned to face him. "Jaune, you've been the absolutely best friend I could have ever asked for. You've stuck with me through some really hard times."

"You've stuck with me, as well," he pointed out. "That's what friends do."

"Yeah," she took a deep breath. "But...I don't know if it's friends I want to be." She caught her lower lip between her teeth. "That night in BatiKiyisi, before we left, before Neon interrupted us..."

"I...I wasn't seeing you as just a friend," he told her, his voice solemn. "I wanted..."

"Yes?" She asked, as the train started to move.

For a moment, Jaune hesitated. He remembered the times at Beacon, after he had put away his stupid pride and agreed to train with Pyrrha. If he hadn't have been so blind, he would have realized that Pyrrha clearly wanted to be more than friends. Instead of seeing what was right in front of him, he had developed that foolish infatuation with Weiss. While it wouldn't have saved Pyrrha's life, if he had only opened his eyes and realized how she felt, she would have gone to her fate knowing that he returned her feelings.

Now, here was another wonderful young woman, capable, tough, but vulnerable in her own way; a young woman who he had been determined to view as a friend, despite every reason to look at her otherwise. Would he put Ruby through the same garbage that he had subjected Pyrrha to; the not knowing for sure, or would he have the courage to come out and admit his feelings, one way or the other?

"Ruby I..." he managed to say, then his throat seemed to close up. The train was moving now, but he hardly noticed. Her big, silver eyes were fixed on him, a slight blush had risen to her face and she looked like she was almost ready to faint. Instead of speaking, he slowly brought his face down to hers.

His aim was off; maybe it was nerves, maybe it was the rocking of the train, or maybe it was a combination of the two. He didn't realize that his eyes were closed until he noticed that his lips were on her cheek, prompting a slight, disappointed groan from her. Grabbing her shoulders, he adjusted their stance, bringing his mouth onto hers. She gasped at first, and her hands rose up to his chest. He loosened his grip, thinking that she meant to push him away but then her hands were clinging to the top of his chestplate, keeping him close and giving her a little leverage.

Somewhere, he swore he hear a muted roar of outrage but he quickly forgot it, reveling in the feeling of wanting Ruby and of knowing that she wanted him. All too soon, he ran out of air and had to back off to catch his breath. He looked into her face as those glorious silver eyes opened again and she too, took a couple of deep breaths.

"So _that's_ what you wanted," she whispered. "Good."

"I..." he began, only to be interrupted by the door opening behind him. Instinctively, the two stepped away from each other.

"Hey guys!" Nora announced. "We're heading to the dining car. It's going to be several hours to Windpath and we need to keep the machines fueled!"

"That...sounds like a good idea," Ruby answered. Her eyes were coy when she looked up at him. "Don't you think?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "Getting something to eat...sounds great."

Ren gave the two an odd look, but quickly followed Nora down the hallway towards her goal, with Oscar right behind him. As Ruby and he moved to follow, he placed his hand over hers. Her eyes flew wide for a moment, but she quickly interlaced her fingers with his and offered him a smile that was both radiant and conspiratorial at the same time. Leaving the compartment and following their companions, three thoughts occurred to Jaune: He wasn't alone, Ruby felt the same way he did, and it was always a good idea to keep Nora fed.

* * *

"Hey!" Yang roared at the train, fist on a hip, while Weiss' hands went to her mouth. "What does he think he's doing?"

"I'd say something your sister wants him to," Sun snickered at her. He grinned impishly at the enraged blonde when she whirled to face him.

"What's wrong, firecracker?" Qrow smirked at his niece. "Did you think your sister was going to be a little girl all of her life?"

"Aren't you going to do something about this?" Yang demanded of him.

"Why?" He shrugged. "I don't think either of them is going to get out of control, so why shouldn't she enjoy herself a little? Besides, the train's already left."

"We'll see about that!" Yang snarled, then took off in pursuit of the accelerating train.

"Uh, Weiss?" Ron asked. "Is she going to try to run down the train, force her way on board, and beat Jaune up?"

"Pretty much," Weiss nodded.

"Do you think she can?"

"Nah," Qrow told him, pulling out his flask and taking a healthy draw. "It's already cleared the station, but it might take her a few minutes to realize it."

Sure enough, Yang managed to close the distance on the train for a short time, then the vehicle really started to accelerate and left her behind. She stared at the receding cars for a few minutes, before rushing back to her companions.

"I need your airship!" She told Weiss. "You can fly me over the train and I'll drop down onto it!"

"I will do no such thing!" Weiss countered. "We're going to Atlas!"

"This will only take a couple of minutes!"

"What's going to happen?" Weiss demanded. "If we were to drop you off on the train, what are you going to do?"

"Get inside and make Jaune stop!" Yang snarled, angry that Weiss couldn't understand the obvious.

"You'll start a brawl with Jaune and Ruby!" Weiss pointed out. "And Ren and Nora will back them up! Do you think that you can fight all four of them, with only one arm, then somehow get back on the airship without getting arrested?"

"I'm not going to fight Ruby!" Yang yelled at her.

"Oh no?" Weiss glared right back at her.

"I...that was as much her idea as his, wasn't it?" Yang suddenly realized. Her eyes morphed from red to violet.

"Do you really think that Ruby would put up with it, if it wasn't?" Weiss allowed her voice to drop to a more reasonable level. "Do you really think that Jaune would try something she didn't agree to? Do you really think that Ren and Nora would stand back and not do anything if he did?"

"My sister's growing up," Yang realized. "And she's with friends that have her back, isn't she?"

"Yes!" Weiss rolled her eyes. "Now why don't you get on the bus, so we can get on my ship and take care of our business in Atlas and get back to Beacon? The sooner we get there, the sooner we can be some of the people that have her back."

* * *

Even on a somewhat crowded airship, it was possible to find solitude. Yang was in the cockpit, talking with the pilots and enjoying being able to see the view forward. Weiss was in the passenger compartment with General Ironwood, who tired very easily. Somehow, Ron didn't feel like talking or looking forward. Instead, he had slipped back into the cargo compartment and looked out of a small porthole in the rear, watching where he had come from. Since speaking to Sensei, a strange certainty had come over him. He wanted to talk about it and while Weiss seemed the best person to discuss it with, he didn't know how to bring it up. Instead he gazed behind the aircraft as Anima receded into the distance.

The hatch opened, interrupting his increasingly unwelcome isolation. Turning, he saw Weiss enter the cargo compartment and close the hatch behind her. He couldn't help but smile as she approached him.

"I've been in contact with Headmaster Ironwood, Flynt and Neon," she reported, in her usual, no-nonsense tone. "The headmaster is going to rotate some more students to BatiKiyisi. As soon as they arrive, Neon and Flynt will catch a ride with a truck convoy to Soguk Su. I'll arrange for passage on a cargo ship when they get there."

"You always think of everything," Ron shook his head in admiration.

"Well, I try." She preened a little at the praise, but made a slight effort to retain a little humility.

For a few minutes, they both looked out from the porthole, watching as Anima vanished behind them.

"Ron," she finally broke the silence. "I'm glad you're coming back with me to straighten things out with Whitley, but what will you do afterwards?"

"I don't know," he murmured. "According to Master Sensei, I'm going to have to wield the Mystical Monkey Power to benefit primate-kind...and set up some sort of institution that will pass it on to deserving people after my time is over." He sighed. "According to him, the MMP will guide me and help me, but it's up to me to figure this all out."

"I have an idea," she offered.

He could only turn to her.

"Come with me...to Beacon," she suggested. "Once we get things set up in Atlas."

Ron just looked at her, confused.

"You need to get to know this world," she explained. "Atlas can have a bit of a superiority complex but Vale, and Beacon, welcomes people from all over the world. You'll meet students from all of the kingdoms, and beyond. You'll have a chance to learn under great hunters and go on training missions, getting to know the people and the planet! How better to learn what you need to do, than to go where you can learn the most?"

"It..makes sense," he admitted.

She smiled, but quickly got a pensive look on her face. "Ron," she finally told him. "I'm going to be honest. I'm...attracted to you and I'd like to be something more than friends. I understand that you're having problems breaking away from your home...away from her."

"I..." now, it was his turn to take a deep breath. "I think...that if I call the Lotus Blade again...I won't be called back if Kim needs me," he told her. "I don't know how I know this...I just do."

"And you can't bring yourself to call the blade again," she finished for him.

He nodded.

"I can't say that I'm going to wait for you," she told him. "I'm not saying that I'm going to go running off to find someone, but if I meet someone..."

"You shouldn't wait," Ron told her. "I've learned that one."

"Okay, but here's what I think," she continued. "I think we should look over and explore the world and maybe, we'll find that we really want to share it with each other; whether it's as friends or as something else."

"I'd like that," he said. He looked out of the portal again and could see only ocean, with no landmarks to tell him where he was at. "I guess that when you're lost, sometimes you find your way home and sometimes, you find home where you are."

* * *

 _Be!_

He...was...he...was...

He was!

It was pitch black and he found himself suspended in a warm, thick liquid. He didn't know how long he had been here, as he had no memories. He only knew that he now understood that he existed. He was comfortable here, drifting in the liquid's warm embrace.

 _Rise up!_

Up? Rise? He opened his...eyes...and saw only blackness. He didn't understand up, but a presence called him, informing him that it was time to leave the liquids embrace and...do something. Limbs obeyed his will, forcing him through the liquid, towards the presence. A dim illumination came into being and grew brighter as he...swam...up. Was it a long time or a short time? How deep had he been? His head burst through the surface and he realized that he swam in a pool of utter blackness. Looking around, he realized that his eyes were now working, giving him images of a gray world.

 _Come to me!_

It wasn't his ears that registered the command. He didn't even consider that he may not want to comply; that he might have a will of his own. He saw, without using his eyes, a beacon of something that wasn't light, that drew him. Turning towards it, he swam in the direction until he felt slimy stone under his...feet? He then stood upon legs that had never borne weight before and walked across a dim cavern, to where a pale figure waited him upon a stone terrace. Stopping there, he looked up, feeling admiration and obedience towards this exquisite creature.

"What is your will?"

The question was asked using sound and demanded a similar response, so he attempted to speak for the first time. He opened his mouth but only the oily liquid came forth when he tried to speak. Horrified that he had given offense but compelled to answer, he bent forwards and forced as much of the liquid as he could from his lungs. Once finished, he drew air into those organs for the first time and spoke his first words.

"To serve your will...?"

"You may call me 'Your Grace'," she informed him. "Although my name is Salem."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Very well," the ghost of a triumphant smirk appeared on her features. "Do you know who you are?"

"I..." he struggled to remember, to come up with a name. There should be a name, just like their should be a past, but there was neither. "My apologies, Your Grace, but I do not."

"That is to be expected."

He relaxed slightly. Her Grace was infinitely merciful!

"Your memories will return in time," she informed him. "As your soul etches its mark in your new body. In another time, and in another place, you were known as Lord Fiske, although you will be known simply as Fiske, until such time that you earn a greater title."

"As you wish, Your Grace." He couldn't restrain a smile. She had given him a name.

"My inner circle has recently experienced a great loss," she informed him. He frowned at the thought of her loss. "But if you prove capable, you will become one of my most trusted lieutenants."

His smile returned. "I will not fail you, Your Grace."

"I know," her voice sounded both demanding and amused. "Cinder, Roman, come here."

He felt a surge of jealousy when two others walked out onto the terrace to look down upon him. He quickly forced the emotion down, who was he to tell Her Grace that she couldn't have other servants?

"You failed me, Cinder," Salem informed the younger woman, and Fiske felt a surge of satisfaction at Cinder's cringe. "And by extension, you did as well, Roman. This is your chance to make amends. Tell me, what do you see below us?"

"I see a naked wretch that doesn't even have any plumbing!" The one named Roman sneered down at him.

Somehow, Fiske knew that was an insult. Fiske offered the man a smirk, knowing that there would be a chance to pay him back in the future.

"I see...possibilities," the one called Cinder stated. She looked at him in a calculating manner. "A human soul in a grimm body. Once his aura is awakened and his body is nurtured on hate, he could be a very powerful asset."

"Correct, Cinder," Salem told her. "But incomplete. His soul has access to another power, something beyond Aura...something known in another world as the Mystical Monkey Power."

Roman snorted at the name, earning a glare from Salem that immediately silenced him. However, something deep inside Fiske stirred at the name.

"I now turn Fiske's training over to the two of you," Salem told the pair. "Since you proved incapable of leading my forces against the kingdoms, let's hope that you show some aptitude for turning this raw material below us into something worthy of taking Tyrian's place. Your lives depend upon it."

Abruptly, Salem turned and glided away. Fiske dropped to a knee as the others bowed, yet he barely registered a gasp of dismay and a grumble of irritation. Instead, his attention was focused upon the stirring he had felt when Salem named the Mystical Monkey Power. Yes! There was something there; something that would give him greater power...power to serve his queen! He would have to train, he would have to mold his body, but it could be done! He would become great and powerful...again?

Then, even as he felt the power stir in response to his determination, he became aware that it also served...and was served by...another on this world. That was unacceptable! The Mystical Monkey Power was to be his and his alone!

Whoever this other was, he could not be allowed to remain alive.

 _finis_

* * *

 _Dear Reader:_

 _Please let me thank everyone who has read this little foray into my imagination. I fully admit that I have left the ending wide open, but it has long been my belief that a story should leave the reader wondering, at least a little about what the future holds for the characters. Also, I'll admit that I was facing a major case of writer's burnout towards the end. Between this and commitments in the real world, I was finding it harder and harder to give this tale the attention it needed. Finally, the entirety of RWBY Volume 5 came out during the posting of this tale, so I found my story deviating wildly from RWBY canon. I'm not trying to make excuses and I very well may return to this setting someday, but it's gotten to the point that I need to take some time away from this story and it isn't fair to those who have been reading it to leave them hanging._

 _I'm also not in the habit of giving shout outs to reviewers during the story or in my notes, but in this case, I have to thank four people: acosta perez jose ramiro, Jimmy 1201, Sentinel103 and Cajunbear73 read and reviewed every chapter of this tale. Thanks guys, your comments and PMs really helped to stave off the burnout._

 _Finally, my biggest thanks go out to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading and making sense of the oftentimes disjointed and confused mess I sent him._

 _With that said, let me offer my best wishes to everyone reading this._

 _Till we meet again_

 _PS. I have since written a sequel, A Colorado Naked Mole Rat in the Schnee Mansion._


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